Confidence, Leadership, and Teamwork
by HarmonyAk
Summary: Sheppard's team is stuck on a tropical planet, and it's getting awfully hot...then it gets worse.
1. Turning up the heat

A/N: Sixteen chapters total. Hopefully I'll be uploading one a day, as I edit them.

Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of this, blah blah blah ;)

Spoilers: Nothing much. Set some time in late Season 2.

o-o-o

**Chapter One: Turning up the heat **

"…And I still think that you're being an idiot, and I am right, as _always,_" McKay was saying.

Sheppard rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the mindless jabbering that had been going on behind him for the last two hours. Yes, ok, so Rodney had warned them about the heat of day, and he had suggested they turn back in time to reach the gate before noon, when the heat would really start to hit. But it has _also _been his idea to come here in the first place, because of the energy readings, as Sheppard had tried to point out multiple times in the last few hours.

They had arrived on M6P-696 at dawn, trying for a balance of daylight and cool temperatures. McKay had said something about an energy spike near the gate when they first arrived, but it had faded, and his enthusiasm had then turned to another energy source several miles distant. Then, for the next several hours they had followed the energy reading as it seemed to move around in a disturbingly will-o-the-wisp-like fashion. McKay kept insisting they were close, and then losing the signal, only to have it reappear again farther off. At least they had been going in a straight line. But by noon, they had all agreed to turn back, even Rodney. Especially Rodney, as soon as he wasn't being distracted by the energy readings. He had immediately launched into a never-ending tirade about the heat, the bugs, and the possibility of acquiring tropical diseases.

But with all his constant litany of whining, Rodney did have a point. It was getting really hot out here. They had all stripped down to their t-shirts (or equivalent, in Teyla's case), even taking off their flak vests and carrying them. And for the last hour, as the temperatures and humidity soared, Rodney had been lagging farther and farther and whining louder and louder. At first Sheppard had found it mildly amusing, as he usually did, but even his nerves were wearing thin. He didn't even have anyone to share his annoyance with, as he had sent Teyla and Ronon a little ahead to scout for a better path back through the dense tropical forest.

As much as he tried to ignore it, he kept tuning back in to Rodney's constant stream of complaints.

"I really don't feel at all well," Rodney commented after taking a short pause from complaining. "I'm probably suffering from heat exhaustion or heat stroke or any number of other—"

Sheppard sighed and tuned him back out. It was definitely hot, but not THAT hot. It was probably in the high nineties (Fahrenheit), and the humidity was high enough to making breathing slightly difficult, but he didn't feel that overheated, and he doubted Rodney did, either. The man was just a hypochondriac. Sheppard ignored the tiny leadership voice that told him he should pay more attention to his teammates' health. This was Rodney, after all. If he were really sick, he would be a lot more vocal. Or refuse to walk anymore. Or something.

"Where are we?" Rodney asked suddenly.

Sheppard snorted. "In the middle of a tropical rainforest on a distant planet," he answered factually, wondering where Rodney was going with that line of thought.

"Oh. Why am I so hot?" Rodney asked, sounding plaintive and a little bit foggy.

"It's just a little heat, _suck it up_!" Sheppard snarled, sick of the complaints. "Just keep drinking water. You don't want to get dehydrated."

"Actually, I'm not even sweating anymore," Rodney commented softly, sounding slightly puzzled.

Sheppard's annoyance disappeared in a flash of gut-clenching fear. Oh no. He whirled around to face Rodney, who was several steps behind him, and saw his fear confirmed at the other man's dazed expression and red face. "Oh God, Rodney!"

"What? What? Oh…" Rodney looked at him for moment and then crumpled to the ground. Or he would have, if Sheppard hadn't caught him.

"Teyla! Ronon!" Sheppard shouted as he tried to strip Rodney as fast as he could. He cursed when he realized that they were to far away to hear him call.

"What…are you doing?" McKay mumbled, weakly trying to push Sheppard's hands away.

"Calm down, I'm trying to help," Sheppard snapped, anything but calm himself. He reached up and activated his radio. "Teyla, Ronon! Respond!" he snapped.

"What is wrong?" Teyla's voice returned immediately, sounding alarmed.

"Rodney's suffering from heatstroke," he told her tersely. "Ronon, get back to the gate and get Carson and a medical team. But for God's sake, don't let yourself get overheated. Teyla, I need you to come back here and help me with Rodney."

"I'm on it," Ronon said.

"As am I," Teyla said.

Sheppard had Rodney stripped now, and began pouring water out of his canteen over the stricken man's neck and chest, trying not to notice how hot and dry he felt. God, how could he have been so stupid? "Teyla, see if you can find water," he said.

"Yes, Colonel," came her calm voice. Leave it to Teyla to be a rock in any situation.

And leave it to Sheppard to ignore a dying man's pleas for help…he broke off that thought. He couldn't lose it now, not when Rodney needed him the most. Not…not when he still had to get his team off the planet, alive and whole. "Hang on, buddy," he murmured, rubbing the tepid water over Rodney's face. "Hang on."

A sudden rustling in the foliage resolved into Teyla. Sheppard sighed in relief and relaxed the grip on his P-90. She was slightly out-of-breath, and flushed. But she was sweating, which Sheppard took to be a good sign. "Colonel!" she called, pointing behind her. "There is a stream this way!"

Sheppard hoisted Rodney over his shoulder, trying not to think about how utterly limp he was. He hoped it was just unconsciousness, but he didn't have time to check at the moment. The man felt like a furnace. He followed Teyla, cursing as the vines tried to wrap themselves around Rodney and himself, slowing their progress.

Teyla led him to the stream, which was little more than a muddy seep about three feet wide and two feet deep. It was water, though, and would have to do. He laid Rodney into it, head facing upstream, climbing in himself in order to support Rodney's head and shoulders so that only his face was out of the water. It was a little too deep to lay him down fully without drowning him.

Teyla hovered nervously. "What can I do?"

"My vest. Get my vest. Med supplies." Sheppard told her distractedly, finally having a chance to take vitals. "And water purification tabs. Fill all the canteens you can, purify the water, and put salt in one."

He didn't notice if Teyla said anything further. He had finally found Rodney's pulse, weak and rapid. His breathing was also coming in quick gasps. At least the cool water had revived him some, and his eyes were partly open. "Rodney! Talk to me!" he said, trying to sound commanding.

Rodney's eyes tracked slightly in his direction, but they weren't focused at all. "Water," he said weakly.

Sheppard didn't know if he was just noting his situation or asking for the stuff, but he didn't much care. "Teyla!" he bellowed. "Where's that water?"

Teyla came back into his line of vision, more flushed than before. "I am working on it as fast as I can," she said, sounding somewhat reproachful. He watched her dip the canteens upstream of Rodney. "Are you certain the water purification…pills will work on this stuff?" she asked dubiously.

"I don't _care,_" Sheppard snapped. "He needs lots of water, and fast." He grabbed the canteen as soon as she had dropped the water purification tab and the salt in it. He gave it a few vigorous shakes and put it to Rodney's lips. "Drink," he ordered.

Rodney took a mechanical swallow as the water hit his lips, and immediately began to choke. Sheppard turned him slightly to the side and held him there as he began to vomit. Luckily there was enough current to take it away from them. He tried giving him water again, and managed to get a few sips into him before the glazed blue eyes closed again. Even Sheppard knew better than to give an unconscious man water to drink. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Colonel?" Teyla asked hesitantly. He looked up at her fear-filled face. "What is wrong with Rodney?"

"I said, heatstroke." A sudden thought occurred to him. "Didn't you have that in Athos?"

Teyla shook her head. "We do not have that word. It is from someone getting too hot, correct?"

"Yes, yes it is," Sheppard told her, digging around in his vest one-handed until he found the forehead thermometer he always carried with him. "Here, hold this to his forehead, will you?"

Teyla complied. "Athos was not nearly this hot, nor humid. I do not believe I have seen this illness before."

Sheppard didn't respond, too busy watching Rodney's temperature rise. The thermometer read 105, and that was his _outside_ temperature, and after he had been in the water for several minutes. He swore softly, angry at himself for not taking the temperature right away. Angry at himself for…for a lot of things. He gave Rodney's head a shake. "Rodney! Wake up!"

He gritted his teeth at the lack of response. If he couldn't get him to drink more, he could die. And if he died…Sheppard cut off that thought, too. Now was not the time.

The water currents changed abruptly, and he looked up from Rodney's face to see that Teyla had slipped into the water just upstream of them. She put her hands under Rodney's head, holding it out of the water. Sheppard nodded his thanks. With both hands now free, he went for the canteen again. You shouldn't give an unconscious man water, but sometimes you had no choice. Like when they were stubbornly refusing to become conscious.

"Lift his head," he told Teyla. She complied, and he tried to get Rodney to drink again. Unconscious or not, he did accept some of the salt water. Sheppard tried not to think about all the mud that was also in the water. Hopefully the military was right about those purification tablets.

The next several minutes were a constant pattern of getting Rodney to sip water and keep it down. He only choked and vomited once more, then seemed to have actually revived enough to drink without trying to breathe it. Between sips, Teyla lowered his head again into the water. Sheppard checked his pulse again (still rapid and weak) and took his temperature (down to 104).

Rodney's eyelids fluttered. "Where are we?" he managed, voice barely audible.

Despite the heat, Sheppard shuddered. He realized now why Rodney had asked that before; he had been confused. Confusion. Another symptom of heatstroke. Dammit, McKay had been _right_ about what he had! And Sheppard hadn't listened. He had, in fact, told him to suck it up, just before he passed out. Hell. Damn it all to hell! Sheppard took a few deep breaths, realizing that he had to keep calm for Rodney's sake. He could chew himself out later.

He heard Teyla talking softly to Rodney, and realized that he had ignored the question. "We are safe," she was saying gently. "But you must drink more water. Do you think you can drink more water?"

"Water," Rodney agreed.

"Colonel?" Teyla said, and Sheppard realized he still hadn't responded. Falling down on the job. This just got better and better.

He started guiltily and put the canteen to Rodney's lips. Rodney took a sip and his eyes widened. "Salty," he said, turning his face away, nearly dunking it in the process.

Sheppard switched canteens to one that contained just water (and mud, and water purification tablet, and God knew what else). "Here, this is just water," he said.

Rodney glowered at him distrustfully, but took a few test sips anyway. He still looked glazed, but seemed a bit more lucid.

"Teyla, how close are we to the Stargate from here?" Sheppard asked as he once again took Rodney's temperature.

"I believe we are about two miles away," she replied, watching the thermometer. "What is it now?" she asked.

"It's one oh three," Sheppard told her, relieved. It was going down, and that was a good thing.

"What is normal?" she asked.

Oh. Of course she wouldn't know. He resolved to train his people on basic medical procedures as soon as they got back to Atlantis. "Ninety-eight or ninety-nine is normal," he said. "But this isn't terribly high," _Now_, he mentally added. It had been pretty bad before. Hopefully it hadn't been high for too long. Not long enough to cause brain damage. God, anything but that!

"Told you…" Rodney mumbled, apparently paying at least some attention. Sheppard looked down to see blue eyes watching him. "…I was sick." The eyes closed.

Sheppard was too guilt-struck by those simple words to move or respond, leaving it to Teyla to try to wake Rodney back up. "Rodney," she said, shaking him gently by the shoulders she was still supporting, "you must remain awake."

"Tired," Rodney mumbled, but his eyes moved under the lids.

"I am sorry, but you cannot sleep yet. You must drink more water."

"Sick." He had an argument for everything, it seemed.

"I know you are unwell, Rodney," Teyla told him gently. "But you must remain awake, and keep drinking water."

"Water is nasty," McKay rejoined, opening his eyes a fraction. Sheppard looked away to avoid what he knew would be an accusing glare.

There was splashing as Teyla readjusted herself. "But still, you must drink. Colonel?"

Sheppard took his cue and offered the water to Rodney once more. He grimaced, but he drank it. "How're you feeling?" Sheppard forced himself to ask, more wanting to gauge the man's mental clarity than actually get a list of symptoms. McKay definitely seemed to be more responsive.

"How do you think?" McKay almost snapped. It was a weak snap, but a definite snap, and it made Sheppard feel somewhat better. "Dizzy. Sick." He closed his eyes again.

"Oh no, stay with me!" Sheppard said, shaking his shoulder and giving him more of the muddy water.

Rodney grimaced, choking again, but his eyes opened again fractionally. "Sometimes I really…hate you," he murmured as soon as the canteen was lowered.

Sheppard flinched as if slapped, and backed off a foot, nearly catapulting himself out of the stream. His sudden movement caused a wave that splashed over Rodney's face, eliciting a yelp of annoyance. Rodney blinked, staring at him. "Hey," he said.

Sheppard knew, on some level, that Rodney probably didn't really mean it the way he was taking it. But at the moment he hated _himself_ pretty thoroughly, and the comment had really hit home. He swallowed a few times, trying to force his emotions back down, aware that two sets of eyes were now on him. Teyla opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.

Thankfully, that that moment Sheppard's radio came to life. "Colonel Sheppard, come in," came Ronon's gruff voice.

Sheppard tapped the radio, looking at the trees, the ground…anywhere but Rodney. "Sheppard here."

"We have…a problem. You should see this."

"I'm kinda busy at the moment. What kind of problem?" Sheppard asked, risking a glance at McKay, who was still looking at him.

"It's the Stargate," Ronon said, less than helpful.

"What _about _it? Have you made contact with Atlantis or not?" Sheppard snapped, more harshly than he had intended. Luckily, if there were ever a man who wouldn't take offense over tone of voice, it was Ronon.

"I can't. Gate's gone."

Sheppard was silent for a moment, unable to process this latest bit of information. Finally he just repeated what Ronon had said, hoping that the meaning would become clear. "The gate is gone."

"Yep. Stones are here. Gravel's here. Gate's gone."

"Ronon, I swear to God, if this is some kind of joke…"

"Joke?" Ronon said, sounding offended. "No joke. Gate's gone."

"Are you sure you're at the right place?" Sheppard asked. Although how many circular clearings WERE there in the middle of a rainforest?

"I'm sure," Ronon said, sounding more insulted.

"Ok, stand by a second," Sheppard said. He needed to process this. Rodney needed help. The Stargate was the only way to get help. But Ronon said there wasn't a Stargate, which was patently impossible. Sometimes being the leader sucked. Badly. It meant people relied on him to make decisions. To keep them safe. His eyes wandered back to Rodney, who had closed his eyes again, still too out of it to be interested in the proceedings.

Teyla, however, was staring at him. "The Stargate is gone?" she asked, looking as if she hoped that any minute Sheppard would crack a grin and admit the joke.

He wished he could. He really did. He took Rodney's temperature again. 102. His face was still flushed, and he still had a fever, but his pulse had slowed and his breathing had steadied. They had managed to get some water down him, and he seemed to be slowly regaining his senses. It looked like he wasn't going to die suddenly. At least, Sheppard hoped so.

He sat for a moment, weighing his options. He really didn't want to leave Rodney, for fear that something would happen while he was gone. Like, for example, that he would die. But he needed medical attention, and without a functional Stargate, that wasn't going to happen. So, in order to help Rodney, he was going to have to trust Teyla to look after their stricken teammate, and go see what Ronon was talking about. And get Beckett here. As fast as he could.

"Teyla," he said, "I'm going to go check this out. Will you be ok here with him?" They had seen no signs of large animals on this planet, and she had her P-90 if anything did come along.

Teyla tried a smile that didn't reach the worry in her eyes. "I will be fine. Please let us know if you find anything."

Sheppard stood up. "And you let me know if…anything happens," he said, looking at Rodney. "And if he wakes up, do NOT let him out of the water until his temperature drops to normal and he starts making sense. Well, as much sense as he normally makes," he added before he could stop himself.

"Yes, Colonel."

With a single glance at Rodney, Sheppard jogged for the gate, informing Ronon of his plan on the way.


	2. How do you steal a stargate?

**Chapter 2: How Do you steal a Startgate?**

Sheppard jogged through the jungle, trying to keep his mind off Rodney and his own guilt, and focus on the matter at hand. The heat was really oppressive, but he pushed on grimly. Heatstroke wouldn't dare take him at this point. Besides, he was still soaked from the stream (although with the high humidity, evaporative cooling didn't seem to be helping much). Even fighting the foliage, he reached the gate in less than twenty minutes.

Or rather, where the gate HAD been. Ronon was right, of course. The clearing was still there, ringed in stones, but the gate was…just gone. And so was the DHD. He stared in confusion.

Ronon looked up at his approach, equally confused. He had drawn his gun and was slowly circling the clearing. "I don't like this."

Sheppard was nervous himself, but didn't really see that it merited a gun. What was there to shoot at? "I don't like it either." He glanced at the gun. "Are you, uh, sensing something?"

Ronon sighed and reholstered the weapon. "No. I just don't like it."

Sheppard walked to the exact center of the circle, where the gate had stood, and turned all the way around. "Do you think…" he started. He let the thought trail away, though, at the absurdity of it. He wished McKay were here, and that thought brought a new wave of guilt.

"Think what?" Ronon prompted, snapping him back to reality.

"Oh. I was just wondering if it was possible that someone lifted it off?"  
"You mean with a ship?" Ronon asked, looking at the sky.

"Yeah. I mean, what else could have happened?"

"Wouldn't we have heard it?"

Sheppard shrugged. "Thick vegetation. And it may have been cloaked."

"Why and how would anyone steal a Stargate?" Ronon asked dubiously.

"Well, the why is pretty obvious. I imagine that a Stargate would be a really useful commodity. Imagine being able to have your own. It would be quite a coup for a world."

"Do they even work that way? I mean, are they portable?"

Sheppard shrugged, realizing he didn't know, and wishing again that McKay was here to come up with the brilliant answer. "It was just an idea," he muttered.

"Well, if nothing else it certainly prevents us from leaving," Ronon commented, still looking at the sky.

"Yes, it does," Sheppard said grimly. "And from getting medical help for Rodney. I wonder who'd behind it?"

"It doesn't seem to be the Wraith's style," Ronon said, considering. "If we were the targets at all. Who else hates us?"

Sheppard didn't even have to consider. "The Genii."

"But I thought we had a truce?" Ronon asked, brow creasing.

"I trust those bastards about as far as I can throw them," Sheppard growled. "But I don't think they have the technology to do this. In fact, I know they don't."

"Then who?"

"I don't know," Sheppard said. "Who else even has space travel?"

"Olesia," Ronon said promptly.

Sheppard grimaced. Ah, the Olesians. He had a special place in his heart for them, all right. "True, but I imagine the Wraith wiped them from the face of the planet after we released their all-you-can-eat prisoner buffet."

"They may have culled some and left the rest."

Sheppard shrugged. "It's possible. And I can see why they might want another Stargate. But it doesn't make _sense._ Their planet is nowhere near here, and I doubt their ships are capable of traveling through space very far."

"Which brings us back to nothing. We need Doctor McKay."

Sheppard looked at the ground. "He's not up to helping us right now."

"How was he when you left?" Ronon asked, voice softening.

"Better," Sheppard admitted. "He was waking up, and his temperature's dropped."

Ronon's shoulders relaxed. "Good. I'm not very familiar with this heatstroke, but it can be fatal, right?"

Sheppard nodded. "Yes."

"Then good he's getting better." Ronon hesitated. "I'm sorry."

Sheppard's head shot up. "What are _you _sorry for?"

Ronon looked at him. "You sent me for help. I couldn't get it."

Well, of all the stupid—"What the hell? It's not your fault that somebody stole the Stargate!" He was aware he was yelling, getting in Ronon's face, but he couldn't help it. How could the runner even consider that any of this was _his _fault?

Ronon looked confused, then frowned and grabbed Sheppard by the shoulders. "Sheppard, calm down," he said shaking him.

Sheppard shook off Ronon's hands, but he took several breaths and tried to calm down. "Right. Ah…sorry."

Ronon shrugged. "So now what?"

"I guess we go back and wait until Rodney's recovered enough to…" _to tell us all what to do. _"To help us figure this out," he finished.

"Sounds good," Ronon rumbled, leading the way back to the spot they had left Rodney and Teyla.


	3. Nurse Teyla

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews :)

oOo

**Chapter 3: Nurse Teyla **

"Teyla, go away," Rodney muttered.

Teyla glanced down, startled. She had been staring off into space for the last ten minutes, idly stroking Rodney's forehead with the hand that wasn't keeping his face out of the water. "I…what?" she asked, confused but relieved he was awake.

"Get…out of the water," Rodney clarified.

"Why?" She asked, puzzled.

Rodney actually blushed. He was definitely aware of his surroundings again, much to her relief. "Because," he said, blushing deeper, "because I'm…naked, and you're…you're…you know…female." he fluttered his hand helplessly, splashing the water gently.

Teyla smiled in spite of herself as she realized what he was getting at. "Doctor McKay," she said, eyes twinkling, "I assure you that you do not have anything I have not seen before." She knew she was teasing him, but she was relieved to see that he was getting well.

Rodney glared at her. "Still. This is just…you know. Awkward. Come on."

She sighed. "Rodney. I am holding your head out of the water. If I leave, you will drown."

Rodney snorted. "Oh ye of little faith. I think I'm capable of keeping myself from drowning…hey." He looked at her. "Why _am_ I in the water?"

Teyla sighed. So maybe he wasn't completely over the confusion yet. "You are sick, Rodney."

He looked at her. "Oh." He closed his eyes, then opened them again. "I _knew _it!"

Teyla frowned. "You knew it? You knew you were sick?"

Rodney nodded. "Yes. I knew it. I have heatstroke, don't I?"

Teyla nodded. "If you knew—" she began, before Rodney cut her off.

"Oh god, I'm going to die, aren't I? Heatstroke is fatal if untreated, and excuse me, but I don't see Carson and his medicine anywhere around here! All I see are trees and vines and water and…dammit, Teyla. I'm still naked."

Teyla almost smiled, but she caught herself. Leave it to Rodney derail his own tirade. "Think of me as a doctor. Or a nurse."

"Not helping. I wouldn't want a doctor or a nurse seeing me naked, either."

"I'm sure that Doctor Beckett has seen you naked many times," Teyla said without thinking. Rodney just gave her a look, and she sighed. "Besides, I am not looking."

"I hate this planet," Rodney muttered.

Teyla nodded, agreeing with him.

"Where are Ronon and the Colonel?" Rodney asked suddenly, turning confused eyes to Teyla's face.

"They have gone to…scout ahead," she lied. She realized just in time that telling Rodney about the missing Stargate would only upset him, and it was imperative that he remain calm at this point.

"Scout? But we've…Oh!" Rodney curled to the side, and Teyla shifted just in time to avoid getting hit in the chest with a stream of vomit as Rodney was violently sick. She held him up out of the water, supporting him across the chest, until the heaving subsided.

"I'm sorry," Rodney whispered, blushing again.

"Do not be silly," Teyla said, stroking hair off his forehead. "You are sick."

"Right. Heatstroke. How silly of me." But there was no force behind his words.

Teyla looked at him, trying to figure out if there was anything she could do. "You should drink," she said finally.

"Dammit, that's all you people keep telling me to do," Rodney complained, but he drank when Teyla put the canteen to his lips.

Rodney seemed to calm down after that, although Teyla wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He drank when she offered him water, and he wasn't sick again. He was pale now, where he had been bright red before. She wished she knew more about this heatstroke. She had no idea what symptoms were to be expected, nor how long it took to recover. All she could do was support her teammate and give him water. She dipped her head a little to lean her forehead against his, noticing with relief that his face was no longer hot.

At her touch, Rodney jerked as if stung. "Teyla, I mean it! Let me out of here!" he exclaimed as if they were still in the middle of their previous argument.

Teyla sighed. "But you are still too hot and unwell."

"Too hot? I'm freezing! Take my temperature again! I'm sure it's dropped right down."

Teyla obligingly put the thermometer back to his forehead. "Ninety nine," she read off. "It would appear you are no longer feverish."

"There, you see? Back to normal!" Rodney said, trying a disarming smile which didn't quite work.

Teyla looked at him, unsure. It was true that he was no longer too hot, but he still looked very unwell. His eyes were no longer unfocused, but they were glassy and glittered unnaturally. "How do you feel, exactly?" she asked finally, feeling helpless.

Rodney sighed, sounding frustrated. "Teyla, I'm fine. I'm cold and wet. And sitting in mud. And naked. Sitting in mud, naked. Please, _please_ let me out of the water. I'm _uncomfortable,_" he admitted, sounding vulnerable.

"Very well." Teyla relented. "If you promise to keep still and calm, you may sit on the bank for a while."

Rodney's smile was real this time, and grateful. "And my clothes?" he asked hesitantly.

"You may put on your…undergarments," Teyla said, noticing him blush again. "But you do need to keep as cool as possible, and you must keep drinking."

"Any more water, and I'll explode," Rodney muttered, but he really wasn't arguing with her.

Teyla smiled at him again, relieved that he was sounding more like himself. He helped him sit up, then climbed out of the water. She would have liked to stay and help him climb out, but doubted his modesty would allow that.

"Ok, turn your back." Rodney said when she didn't move away from the stream bank.

Teyla rolled her eyes, but complied. Considering she had just spent the last ten minutes in the stream with his naked self, she would think he would get over it. She watched the birds in the trees as she listened to the splashing behind her.

"Teyla," a weak voice called from behind her.

She turned quickly, concern etched into her features. Rodney was slumped about halfway out of the water, looking pale. She should have _known _better than to have let him lift himself out of the stream! She rushed over to him and helped him the rest of the way out of the water, noting with relief that the skin of his arms was cool to the touch. "Are you alright?" she asked, knowing that he wasn't, but needing to say something.

"I…I thought I could do it," he panted, leaning against her. "So weak…God…"

"It is alright. I can help you." Teyla said soothingly, easing him the rest of the way onto the bank and laying him down on the grass.

"Still naked," Rodney said, sounding morose.

Teyla grabbed the first article of clothing that came to her hand—Rodney's t-shirt—and spread it over his mid-region. "Better?"

Rodney glanced down with a slight whimper. "Yeah, sure," he said without any conviction. He laid an arm across his face. "God, Teyla. I feel horrible."

She put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched unconsciously, and she removed it. "Can you be more specific?" she asked gently.

He peered up at her from under his forearm. "Specific? Sure. My whole body hurts. I have a headache. I feel sick…ah, nauseous. I'm both too hot and freezing. And best of all, so I've saved it until last, my brain doesn't seem to be firing on all cylinders!"

Teyla had no idea what a firing cylinder was, but she could guess at the meaning. Of course, that would be the most worrisome thing for someone who relied as heavily as Rodney did on his mind. "Do not worry," she said, placing her hand back on his shoulder. This time when he flinched at the touch, she didn't pull her hand back. "I am certain it is temporary."

Rodney looked at her dubiously, then sighed. "And I am certain that I'm going to become a vegetable. But thanks for the thought."

Teyla squeezed his shoulder, then let go. "You should drink more water."

"Oh no I shouldn't! That's probably why I'm sick right now! You DO know that too much water can kill you, don't you?"

Teyla sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon. "Rodney," she said reasonably. "Right now you are severely dehydrated. That is why you feel sick."

"But I was drinking! I drank over half a canteen today before…" his voice trailed off. "Actually, I'm a little fuzzy on the details."

"You do not remember?"

"Yes, that's what 'fuzzy on the details' means!" He snapped.

Teyla didn't take the bait. "You are suffering from what the Colonel called 'heatstroke.'"

"Yes, yes, I got that part! From the heat and humidity, no doubt, which I _said_ was going to be a problem. I _told _Sheppard that we shouldn't be out here after noon, or at least not moving around like lunatics! Ah…" he paused. "Where _is _the Colonel, anyway? And Ronon? What happened?" He tried to sit up, voice rising. "Where are they? Are they ok?"

Teyla leaned over him, pushing him back down into the grass. He was repeating his earlier questions, which still cast doubt in her mind as to his mental state. She tried not to let the worry show on her face. "Rodney, you must calm down. You are only generating more heat. Everything will be alright." He nodded and relaxed slightly, taking long, deep breaths. She nodded and settled back. "Everyone is fine," she added softly. _Except for you. _"They have gone to…investigate something."

"Really?" Rodney asked, giving her an odd look. "What? What's more important than trying to help their fallen teammate?" He almost, but not quite, kept the bitterness out of his voice.

Teyla shifted uncomfortably. This wasn't working. She was going to have to tell him the truth, even though it would upset him further. "Rodney, they are investigating the Stargate."

He looked at her, obviously confused. "The Stargate? But they already know where that is. Why do they need to investigate?"

"Because it is not there now."

Rodney let this sink in for a few minutes. "Don't be stupid. Of course it's there. Where else would it be?"

"Ronon went for help, for you. He reported that the Stargate was missing, and the Colonel has gone to verify this."

"Do you think magic pixies carried it off?" Rodney asked snidely. "It was there this morning. Maybe Conan the Barbarian was looking in the wrong place?"

"Rodney!" Teyla snapped, narrowing her eyes. She had no idea who Conan the Barbarian was, but from the tone she deduced that he had just insulted Ronon.

He looked slightly abashed. "Ok, sorry, sorry. But Stargates don't just…disappear." He fluttered a hand helplessly.

"I know. We do not understand it either. We will have to wait for the others to return. Perhaps they will have something more to report."

"Perhaps," Rodney echoed, letting his hand flop back onto the ground disconsolately. Teyla wished she had words of comfort, but the missing Stargate was bothering her too. They would just have to wait for the Colonel.


	4. Guilt

**Chapter 4: Guilt **

Sheppard was hot and thirsty by the time he and Ronon got back to the others. And frustrated. He wanted nothing more than to get Rodney's perspective, but he was doubtful that the scientist would be up to a discourse on the handful of ways a Stargate could disappear. Also, he was still feeling guilty as all hell about ignoring Rodney's symptoms. He sighed in annoyance when he saw Rodney out of the water, partially clothed (still shirtless and bootless), but then realized it probably meant his temperature was down. Relief followed this realization, and he headed over to them.

Two sets of eyes were watching his approach. "Well?" Rodney demanded, sounding much like his usual self. Sheppard nearly sagged in relief.

He refused to be derailed, though. "How're you feeling?" he asked. Rodney certainly looked better, although now he was pale, and he was still lying down, propped up on one arm to see Sheppard better. Teyla sat near his head, holding a canteen.

Rodney glared up at him, looking angry. Not that Sheppard could blame him. "Stargate," he demanded, struggling to sit.

Sheppard reached out a hand to help him, but Rodney shot him such a baleful look that he retracted it. "It's…gone," he finally said.

"Well, thank you Captain Obvious!" Rodney snapped, sounding like his old self again, but with possibly a bit more bite in his remarks. "Can you be a bit more descriptive?"

Ronon came up to join them, sinking to the ground in obvious relief. He was sweating profusely. Teyla handed him the canteen, and he took it, looking grateful. Sheppard watched him, worried. The heat was more and more oppressive, and he had no desire to see any more of his teammates succumb to heat-related illnesses. He swallowed and turned back to Rodney, who was giving him an annoyed look.

"Well?" Rodney prompted.

Sheppard sighed and sat next to McKay's feet. No point in asking him how he felt again. He was obviously far more interested in the Stargate. Typical McKay: technology versus health, and the tech would win every time. That was why it was Sheppard's job to guard his health. And he had failed at that, miserably. He looked at the ground.

"Colonel!" Rodney snapped. Sheppard jerked his head up, realizing he still hadn't answered the question. "Colonel," Rodney asked more gently, "You ok?"

That was too much. Now _Rodney _was worried about _his _health? He jumped to his feet and stalked away, muttering "I'm fine" over his shoulder. He walked just far enough to be hidden from view by the jungle and stopped, taking deep breaths. He knew puzzled looks would be following him. He had thought he heard Teyla say something as he walked away. He didn't care. He had to get some distance from McKay, and the anger and betrayal that had to be there. After all, he, team leader extraordinaire, had nearly caused the scientist's death by heatstroke. He leaned against a tree broodingly. Death. God. How many times had they come close to death since they had come to this galaxy? And yeah, maybe sometimes it had been John's fault. But always due to trying to save people, to do what was right. Never before had he nearly lost someone to something as stupid as inattention.

But Rodney was ok, he would be ok. He was obviously cooling down, and as long as they didn't try to make him walk back to the gate site until the sun set, then he would continue to be ok. Sheppard sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. He was hot and tired himself, and realized he still hadn't had anything to drink. Well, as much as that would be poetic justice, he really couldn't abandon his people by killing himself from dehydration. Grimly he reached for his canteen, only to remember that it was over by McKay, full of salt water. Lovely.

He steeled himself and headed back to the group, sitting close enough to grab a canteen, but as far from the others as possible. He refused to meet anyone's eyes, but the sudden silence made him think that they had been talking, probably about him, and shut up the moment he came back within earshot. Great. Time for some damage control. "Had to visit a bush," he said, smiling weakly.

Ronon snorted, but didn't say anything.

Sheppard's eyes were still lowered, and he jumped back a little in surprise when a canteen suddenly filled his field of vision. He took it gratefully, glancing up as he did so. Teyla. Of course. "Thanks," he said, taking several long swallows. He made a face. Water purification tabs actually made it pretty nasty. But it was better than the alternative.

"That's the reaction I had," Rodney commented. Sheppard looked up to see blue eyes studying him. "Nasty stuff."

"But drinkable," Sheppard returned for lack of anything better to say. "How…uh…"

"Oh for God's sake!" Rodney snapped, throwing up his hands. "How am I feeling? I'm feeling peachy, Colonel! Never better! Especially if people would just stop _asking me that_!" He stopped to take a breath.

Wow. He must really be pissed, Sheppard thought guiltily. "Look, I—" he started, unsure of what to say, but needing to say something.

"So, you were telling us about the Stargate," McKay cut him off. "Ronon here filled us in while you were…ah…visiting the local flora. Did you have anything to add?"

"I doubt it," Sheppard said, grateful for the topic change. "It's not there anymore, and there's really no sign that it ever was."

"That's stupid; of course it was!" McKay snapped.

"I know that," Sheppard snapped back. "I'm just saying what it _looked _like!" He took a breath. He wasn't mad at McKay, and yelling at him wouldn't help them get home any faster. "Is there any way that someone could have lifted it?"

He was expecting ridicule, but Rodney just narrowed his eyes, gears turning. "It's…possible," he allowed finally. "They did move the Stargates on Earth, after all. And a ship could have lifted it, if it was a big enough ship."

"But would it not have left an impression on the ground?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah," Ronon rumbled in agreement. "Not to mention the DHD was gone too."

"Well, what else could it have been?" Sheppard asked them, but his eyes were on Rodney. If anyone could figure this out…

Rodney looked back at him for a moment, then his shoulders fell. "I've got nothing," he admitted. "I'm going to have to go see it. I'll think of something when we get there." He made motion as if to rise, and Sheppard stopped him with a hand on his shin.

"Absolutely not! Don't be an idiot!"

Rodney looked at him coldly and batted his hand away. "Colonel, I'm fine. And obviously your monkey brain isn't up to figuring out what happened, so it is, once again, squarely up to me to get us out of the mess that we've somehow gotten into. I swear, the universe hates us. It really does…"

"I didn't mean you couldn't ever go there," Sheppard said slowly, trying to keep his breathing deep and slow. Someday, he was going to die of a blood-pressure related stroke, and it would be Rodney's fault. "I meant you can't go there right now. It's far too hot to travel."

"Ah-ha, so you finally admit—" Rodney started, then broke off as Sheppard flinched and Teyla shot him a warning glance. Rodney cleared his throat. "As I was saying all along. Horrible hot planet," he finished weakly. "How many hours until sunset?" Teyla asked softly.

"Six or so," Sheppard responded after glancing at his watch. "But I don't think there's much we can solve at night."

"Wait, wait, wait," Rodney said, holding up a hand. "Are you saying we're going to spend the _night_ out here? With no shelter, no food, lousy water…"

"We have power bars," Sheppard offered lamely.

"Only because _someone_ had the foresight to bring them," Rodney said triumphantly, smirking. The smirk slowly dropped from his face when Sheppard didn't take the bait, though.

"Ronon and I both have experience making shelters," Teyla said, diplomatically changing the subject. "We can make something. And we have enough food for the night, Rodney. And plenty of water."

"Which tastes like ass," Rodney commented, shaking the canteen he was holding for emphasis.

"I'll help with the shelter," Sheppard said, struggling to his feet.

"Someone should stay with Rodney," Teyla pointed out.

"Oh, yes, because Rodney needs to be _babysat_," Rodney said snarkily. "Come on. We've seen no signs of large animals, and nobody's going far. I'm fine."

Sheppard sank back down to look Rodney in the eyes. "No, you are NOT fine. You might be able to ignore the fact that you almost DIED today, Rodney, but I won't! If you get overheated again, you _will _die, and I refuse to have that on my conscience!" The last few words he practically yelled in the startled scientist's face.

McKay took a moment to blink at him, then his eyes narrowed. "Oh, yes, we couldn't have your _conscience _bothered by my death!" he sneered. "Heaven forbid I would be the cause of making you feel badly about yourself! But fine! Have it your way! Go ahead and stay here and baby-sit me and save me from myself!" He was shouting now, too, and beginning to get red-faced.

Sheppard backed off a bit. "Calm down!" he said worriedly.

Rodney opened his mouth to say something else, but instead sank back onto the ground. "Fine," he muttered.

Sheppard looked up to see that Teyla and Ronon had already gone to make the shelter (cowards). He looked back at Rodney, who was now lying with his arm flung over his face, ignoring the world. Great. This would be a truly lovely afternoon, after a truly wonderful day. He flopped over in the grass with a grunt and lay with his back to McKay, lost in his own dark thoughts.


	5. Genius is its own reward

A/N: I know the chapters have been kind of short. Hopefully from this one on, most will be longer. And my continued thanks for all the reviews :)

oOo

**Chapter 5: Being a genius is its own reward **

Rodney awoke at dawn. He blinked up at the leaves overhead, momentarily disoriented. Oh yes. He grimaced, remembering where they were. Stuck on M6P-696 because something or someone unknown had stolen the Stargate (possibly), exacerbated by the fact that someone had been stupid enough to get heatstroke. Heatstroke! Of all the things… His eyes shifted guiltily to the right, where Sheppard still slept. From how tense he had seemed yesterday, and how little conversation they had had while they were waiting for evening, he could guess that the Colonel was pretty pissed at him. And who could blame him? Only a moron would get so overheated that he nearly died. And, Rodney realized guiltily, he had caused his team a lot of worry yesterday, as well as possibly slowing them down to the point where they had lost the Stargate.

Well, if anyone could fix this, he could. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He was relieved to note that he felt fine today. The lethargy and weakness of his illness seemed to have left him. Thank God. He crawled out of their shelter, trying to be quiet enough not to wake Sheppard and Teyla. Ronon was already up, probably keeping watch.

The Satedan turned at the sound of Rodney struggling out of the lean-to. "Hey," he greeted softly. "How you feeling, McKay?"

Rodney grimaced. Every time they asked him that, it just reminded him how stupid he's been, and how much worry he had caused. "Fine," he snapped, more harshly than he had intended. "Anything ugly try to eat us last night?"

Ronon grinned at this. "Nah. I don't think there's much on this planet in the way of predators."

Rodney looked around. "I wonder why?" he mused aloud. "Don't most jungles have…I dunno, lions and tigers and bears?"

"Oh my," said a voice behind him, making him jump. Sheppard came out to stand behind him, Teyla at his heels. "Mornin'," he greeted.

McKay gave him a slight smile, which faltered immediately when Sheppard didn't return it. "Morning," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Sheppard waved that off. "We need to get going anyway, before…uh," he faltered, looking away. Rodney knew what he was going to say anyway. _Before it gets too hot._ He was grateful that Sheppard hadn't finished the thought.

"How are you—" Teyla started, eying Rodney.

"Fine, fine," he cut her off. He went to gather up his vest and equipment. "Let's check out the gate, shall we?" he called over his shoulder.

Someone grabbed his pack out of his hand, and he turned in surprise to regard Sheppard. "What are you doing?"

Sheppard looked away, almost appearing guilty. "I…uh…I can carry that."

McKay snorted, annoyed, and pulled his pack free of the other man's grasp. Great. Now they thought he was some sort of fragile flower that would shatter in the heat. Couldn't even carry his own equipment. "The Hell you will," he said angrily. "I've got it."

"Look, McKay, don't be stupid. You were nearly at death's door yesterday. You shouldn't to anything too taxing—"

"I _said, _I've _got_ it!" Rodney snapped, putting on his pack and stalking away. He stopped a few paces later and turned to face Ronon and Teyla, studiously ignoring Sheppard. "You coming, or not?"

Ronon wordlessly gathered up the few scattered possessions they had shed the night before and glanced at Sheppard. Teyla took a step in Rodney's direction, then glanced uncertainly at Sheppard as well. Fine. "Colonel, with your permission?" Rodney said snidely, sweeping his arm in front of him.

Sheppard gave him an annoyed look, but complied, brushing past Rodney to take the lead down the now very obvious path back to the Stargate…or where it should have been.

The next half hour passed in awkward silence. Rodney walked close behind Sheppard, annoyed that the Colonel seemed to be going to slowly and kept casting backwards glances at him. He could swear that behind them, Teyla and Ronon kept exchanging looks, but he could never catch them at it. He plodded along grimly, sure that if they ever did get back to Atlantis, he was going to be grounded, maybe permanently.

It wasn't fair. They had suffered worse when off-world, hadn't they? They had been kidnapped, threatened, chased, shot at, nearly blown up…but now everyone was acting like a little sunstroke was the end of the world. It annoyed him, and just magnified his guilt. He wished they would just forget it had ever happened. He was fine, and he didn't appreciate their concern. It made him feel weaker than he was.

Finally, they reached the circle. Sheppard stopped just inside the clearing, forcing Rodney to peer over his shoulder to see anything. Even though he had been expecting it, he still sucked in a sharp breath at seeing the circle still here, but the gate—their only means of returning home—just…gone. "Oh, no," he breathed softly.

Sheppard turned to face him, looking him in the eyes for the first time in hours. He looked a little shaken too, which made Rodney feel a little bit better. "Yeah," he agreed softly. "Not something you see every day, is it?"

Rodney shook his head, pulling his scanner out of his pack. He ran the instrument over the area, taking in readings. Hmm. This was interesting. Very interesting.

"What've you got?" Sheppard asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

Rodney took a step away, trying to get the Colonel out of his personal space. "I'm getting an energy reading directly below us," he said, still staring at the screen. "Same place as that one spike I got here yesterday, but not nearly as strong…" his voice trailed off as a huge spike flashed across the screen. "Whoa!"

"What?" Sheppard asked, hand going unconsciously to the P-90 clipped to his chest.

Rodney shot him a look. "Nothing that would benefit from shooting at it, Colonel. I just got another energy spike, bigger than yesterday. From…" he trailed off, walking forward. "From right underneath me."

Sheppard took several steps forward, then stopped. "You sure it's safe to be standing on top of it, McKay?"

Rodney took a few steps backwards, swallowing nervously. That was a good point. But the energy was already fading beneath him. He noticed then that he had been standing in the exact middle of the circle, where the Stargate had stood. "Hmm…" he mused, pushing more buttons.

Sheppard shifted from foot to foot, watching him. Rodney noticed his hand was still on the P-90. "What 'hmm?'" he finally asked, obviously unable to contain himself any longer.

Rodney glanced up at him in annoyance. Really_. Some of us are trying to work here, _he thought with annoyance, _and that goes much faster without distractions_. He almost told the Colonel that, but caught himself. Don't annoy the man with a twitchy finger and a big gun. Instead he sighed and explained, "The energy spike was _exactly _under where the Stargate was, and it was approximately the amount of energy that is used when a gate activates."

His eyes widened in sudden realization. He stared at Sheppard, who wore an identical expression. "You mean…" Sheppard breathed.

Rodney nodded, excited. "I think so!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Does someone want to fill in those less fortunate?" Ronon grumbled.

Rodney turned to him, seeing identical expressions of confusion and annoyance on Ronon and Teyla's faces. He opened his mouth to explain when Sheppard beat him to it. "The Stargate's underneath us," the pilot told them.

"We _think _it might be," Rodney corrected. "The energy signature implies that something as powerful as a Stargate activated underneath us."

Ronon looked at the sky, then at the ground. "So no alien spaceships carried it off?" he asked, still looking confused.

Rodney snorted. "Hardly as likely." He started scratching at the gravel with his boot. "Colonel…?"

Sheppard was already on his way over. He knelt and began digging. After a moment, Ronon bent to help. Rodney watched as they dug down through the gravel, fingers twitching impatiently. He was aware that he should be helping, but was also aware of what the gravel would do to his fingers. After all, he had really delicate skin, and he needed his fingers for typing.

Sheppard looked up at him, arm down in the hole almost up to his elbow. "McKay," he asked, sounding exasperated and a little winded, "exactly how far down is this?"

Rodney shook his head, looking back at the scanner as if it could help them. "No idea. There seems to be some sort of shielding…ah…over a meter down. This is no good. Stop digging."

Sheppard and Ronon stopped. The Colonel sat up, scowling. "So why did we just ruin our nails in this little exercise in futility?"

Rodney waved a hand dismissively. "I don't recall asking you to do any such thing." _Well, I would have, but you beat me to it._

"What we need are shovels," Sheppard said, grimacing.

"I could try blasting through it," Ronon suggested, pulling his weapon.

Rodney took a step backwards, licking his lips nervously. "And pepper us with bits of flying rock? No thanks."

"I do not believe it would be a good idea," Teyla agreed, smiling at Ronon to soften the blow. Rodney shot her an appreciative look, surprised at the support. Moments his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. This had better not be because she felt sorry for him!

"Anyway," he said briskly, turning back to his scanner (not that it showed him anything new, but at least it saved him having to make eye contact), "there's too much gravel to dig _or _shoot through."

"Which is why we need a shovel," Sheppard reiterated, using his _faux_ patient voice that showed he was anything but.

"Great, Colonel. Why don't we just pop down to the local Home Depot and get one, then?" Rodney snapped before he could stop himself.

Sheppard curled a lip in annoyance. "So what are you suggesting then, Oh Wise One?"

"Well," Rodney gestured at the scanner, "The energy signature from yesterday…you know, the one that moves…is still here. We could go after it again."

"Oh, because that worked so well yesterday," Sheppard sneered.

"Well, at least we know it's probably underground, now!" Rodney snapped. "I still don't know why it seems to be moving, but it may lead us to an entrance."

"Or on a wild goose chase!"

"Rodney?" Teyla asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes, but what choice do we have? We can't dig down through a meter of gravel just on the off-chance we can get through whatever is blocking my scanner down below us!"

"Rodney," Teyla tried again.

He finally turned to her. "What," he asked, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice. It wasn't her he was mad at.

"Why is the gate now below us?" It was on the surface yesterday, and from what I understand, when we stepped through you got an…increase in energy readings, and a few hours later, it had…somehow sunk into the ground? Is that correct?"

Rodney nodded, gears turning. "Yeah," he agreed distractedly.

"But…why? And how?" She persisted.

"You know, she has a point," Sheppard said. "Whomever did this is probably still down there."

"If it was a whom," Rodney said, rubbing his fingers excitedly as a new thought occurred to him. When Sheppard cleared his throat a moment later he realized he had forgotten to actually tell them what he was thinking. "Oh, ah, right. What if it's an automatic system? It could have been initialized by the activation of the gate. Or it may have responded to our ATA genes."

Sheppard nodded slowly. "That's possible. I guess we'll know more once we get down there."

"I'm going to try to shoot a hole," Ronon said stubbornly.

"Through a meter of rocks? That won't _work,_" Rodney told him impatiently.

"Guess I'll go whittle us a shovel, then," Sheppard said, raising an eyebrow.

"We do all have knives," Teyla mused slowly.

"So you're all going to go whittle shovels. And then what?" Rodney demanded. "What do you expect to find under the rocks, anyway?"

"Well, probably the trapdoor the gate went down through," Sheppard said sarcastically. "I mean, there DOES have to be a door, right?"

"Yes, yes," Rodney said, poking more buttons on his scanner. He had just seen another energy surge. "Looks like the gate was activated again."

"Probably our people trying to find us," Sheppard commented, then widened his eyes. "Rodney! If they're coming through from Atlantis, what will they be finding down there?"

"How the hell should I know?" Rodney snapped, trying to hide his worry at the thought. "I already told you, there's shielding. All I can detect is energy, and it's fairly sketchy."

"Very helpful. Thank you." Sheppard turned away and tapped his radio. "This is Sheppard, if anyone can hear me, please respond."

Rodney opened his mouth to reply, when he realized Sheppard wasn't talking to his own team. Right. He was trying to reach anyone who might be below him. "No good," he said.

Sheppard turned to him. "And you know this how?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Shielding, Colonel. Radio signals wouldn't be able to penetrate."

"Great, just great," Sheppard muttered.

"If the gate lowering into the ground was activated by the gene," Teyla said, coming to stand next to Rodney, "Then might it not work to use the gene to make it rise again?"

Rodney looked her, then at Sheppard, who quirked an eyebrow in response. "It's…possible," he admitted. "Colonel, I believe this is more your department." As much as he hated to admit it, Sheppard _did _have more control over Ancient technology.

They all watched (Ronon still with his weapon out) as Sheppard closed his eyes and concentrated on bringing back the gate. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes with a sigh. "Not gonna happen," he pointed out unnecessarily.

"It was a good idea," Rodney said to Teyla, who smiled at him in return. He smiled in response. It felt good, he realized, to make her smile. It lit up her whole face. And she was nice, really nice. She had taken care of him yesterday, after all, even though he wasn't the best patient. Although it still made him squirm inside to know that she had seen him naked. Still, it was unavoidable, and it wasn't like he had anything to be ashamed of…

"_McKay_," Sheppard demanded, and Rodney realized he was repeating himself.

"Yes, present," Rodney said, shifting his attention outward.

"Thanks for your attention," Sheppard said, smirking. "How're those energy readings?"

Rodney looked back at the scanner, fiddling with it, trying to amplify the weak signal. "Well…there's still an energy signature right below us, and along the path we were following yesterday…" his voice trailed off. "Colonel, get me a life-signs detector." He snapped in the direction of his pack.

"What am I, your personal servant?" Sheppard griped, but he did as he was told. Rodney set it and the scanner down and began to take things apart. "Er, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to use the power supply from the detector to amplify the power of my scanner," he said distractedly. "Maybe I can get a better…ah-hah! I'm a genius, no doubt about it!" he crowed as the energy patterns settled down.

"What do you see?" Sheppard asked, leaning over his shoulder and into his personal space.

"Well, I see why the energy signature seemed to be moving yesterday," Rodney said. "It was the shielding. There are continuous energy patterns below us…hang on…" he held up the scanner for Sheppard to see. "There, see?"

Sheppard blinked. "A map."

Rodney looked at the pattern of energy readings. It did look—and function—like a map, come to think of it. "Tunnels," he clarified. "Ancient tunnels, with all the lights on, no doubt."

"Was this the case yesterday?" Teyla asked, coming over to see.

"Possibly. Probably. Yes." Rodney decided. "We just couldn't tell yesterday, because it was too faint."

"D'you think that they activated when we came though too?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney nodded. "It's a good bet."

"How far do they go?" Ronon asked. He had also come to hang over Rodney's shoulder.

Rodney squirmed, uncomfortable at all his teammates' proximity. "Kilometers. Remember how far we went yesterday?" he asked, trying not to think about it himself. He had been really miserable yesterday. Why hadn't he said something sooner? Told someone that things weren't right? "That was about halfway along this tunnel," he said, pointing, dragging his brain back to the matter at hand.

"What's that?" Sheppard asked, pointing to a brighter place on the map.

"No idea. A larger power source, obviously. Control room, maybe?"

"Door?" Ronon asked.

Rodney gave him a look. "Probably not a door. Wouldn't need extra power for a door."

"So the door will be at the end of one of the tunnels, huh?" Sheppard asked, tapping the screen.

Rodney batted his hand away. "Most likely. As there are several tunnels, though, we have no way of knowing which, if any."

"So we need a shovel," Sheppard concluded, crossing his arms. Rodney gave up. "Fine, fine. Go whittle yourself a shovel, Colonel. But there's really no way of knowing if we can get the trapdoor open even if you get all the gravel off of it."

Sheppard smirked. "Won't know until we try, will we? Ronon?" he turned to the Satedan. "Want to make some shovels?"

Ronon smiled, probably at the prospect of whacking the limbs off of trees. "Sure." The two headed off towards the dense growth around their clearing.

Rodney watched them go. He thought about helping, but they wouldn't be expecting him to, and he really didn't feel like it anyway. He sat down, feeling light-headed.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked, sitting next to him.

He glanced at her in annoyance, then sighed. "I'm fine. I just haven't eaten yet today."

Teyla nodded in understanding. "I believe none of us have."

Rodney started poking through his pockets until he found a power bar. He opened the wrapper and tore it in half, offering one piece to Teyla.

She looked at it, then him. "You need it more than I," she protested.

Rodney snorted. "Teyla, you said yourself that you haven't eaten either. We have enough to go around, as long as we're careful."

She took, nodding her thanks and smiling at him again. He smiled back. They ate in companionable silence.

When he was done eating, Rodney cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. He had something he had to say to her, and for some reason, it was sticking. "Um, Teyla…"

She looked at him. "Rodney?"

"I just wanted to say…thanks," he said softly, looking down.

"For what?" she asked.

"For yesterday."

She patted his arm. "You are welcome, Rodney. You had us all quite worried."

Rodney made a face. "I'm…sorry about that. It was really stupid of me."

"I do not understand much about this heatstroke," Teyla said with a small frown, "but I do not think it was your fault."

"Of course it—" he broke off. This wasn't going to help. Feeling tired, he just nodded. "Now let's see if the Eagle Scouts over there can actually dig us a door, shall we?" he said, gesturing to where Ronon and Sheppard were enthusiastically hacking things off of a tree.

Teyla smiled. "They do seem to enjoy it." She frowned. "What is an eagle scout?"

Rodney thought about answering her, but she didn't really seem to need a response. So instead he just sat with her and watched their companions destroy the local flora.


	6. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter 6: Down the Rabbit Hole **

Two hours later, Sheppard had to admit Rodney had a point. He and Ronon had fashioned two perfectly decent shovels, and had dug down through several feet of gravel. They had actually hit a metal bottom, and it did have seams on it, implying it was made to open. But that was it. They got no further. No amount of thinking "open sesame," yelling, pounding, or shooting (over McKay's protests) had made it open. And to top it all off, he now had a rather nasty cut on his arm where a piece of flying rock had hit him. He hated to admit that Rodney had been right about the shooting.

McKay, of course, had no problem admitting he was right. "I told you that was a stupid idea," he said, watching Teyla bandage Sheppard's arm. "If the metal—or whatever that is—is strong enough to withstand having tons of gravel on top of it, then it's strong enough to ricochet bullets right into—"

"McKay," Sheppard interrupted, "Not helping."

"Well, all I'm saying is—"

"McKay," Sheppard said again, with slightly more authority, "Still not helping."

"Fine," Rodney muttered, wandering over to his pack. Moments later, he was back. He threw something at Sheppard. He was just quick enough to catch it. "Here," Rodney said, and threw one at Ronon as well.

Sheppard looked at it. A power bar. Rodney was feeding them? Why? He looked up suspiciously. "What's this for?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "It's for eating. You peel off the wrapper and put it in your—"

"I _know _that," Sheppard interrupted, "But why are you giving it to me?"

"You mean instead of keeping them all for myself?" Rodney snapped back. "Because you haven't eaten, that's why! You're welcome, by the way!"

"Thanks," Sheppard muttered, somewhat taken aback. Rodney must still be really mad about yesterday. But that really didn't explain why he was feeding him. Now he was more confused than ever. "How many are left?" he asked, waving the power bar.

Rodney shrugged. "Enough, assuming we don't have to stay here more than another day or so. I tend to come prepared."

Sheppard grinned at that. Yes, he did. "Good for all of us," he said. Rodney gave him an odd look, as if trying to gauge the comment for sarcasm, but didn't say anything.

Sheppard looked up at the sun while Teyla finished tying the bandage. It was already starting to get hot, and it would only get hotter. It looked like they now had no choice but to travel along the line of one of the tunnels and try to find a door. But after yesterday, he didn't want to lead is people—especially Rodney—on the Sunshine Death March if he could help it. They could go a couple of hours, but then they would have to stop for the afternoon. "Gonna get hot," Ronon said, as if reading his mind.

"So we should get moving," Sheppard said, struggling to his feet. "McKay, which tunnel is most likely to lead to a door?"

McKay snorted. "As if I could possibly know that. But you know what? With our luck, it's probably at the end of the longest tunnel, back that way." He gestured at the path they had blazed over the last two days.

Sheppard felt a chill, despite the gathering heat. He really didn't want to go back that way, and be reminded again of how he had nearly killed his teammate…his friend. "Ok," he said, "So we don't know. What about the tunnel that ends the closest to where we are now?"

Rodney shrugged. "Couple kilometers that way." He waved his hand at about an eighty degree angle from the other tunnel.

Sheppard shaded his eyes and peered at the dense jungle. "Works for me. Shall we?"

"It is as good a plan as any," Teyla said.

"Is it straight?" Sheppard asked Rodney.

"Er, what?" the scientist asked, confusedly looking up from his scanner.

"The tunnel. Is it a straight shot from here to the end?"

"Oh," Rodney said. "Yes."

"Good. Ronon, would you take the first turn blazing the trail?" The runner nodded and started off. "Rodney, how long will that power supply last?"

Rodney looked down at the cobbled-together contraption. "The way I'm abusing it? Several hours at best, and probably a whole lot less than that. Not to mention, we don't really know how long Ancient power supplies last, or how much of a charge they keep after ten thousand years—"

"Then why don't you shut it off for a while?" Sheppard suggested, interrupting him. "We know where we're going. When we get close you can power it up again."

Rodney nodded and wordlessly started disassembling it. Sheppard waited until it was stowed in Rodney's pack again, then reached to grab the pack.

Rodney was quicker, grabbing it up and shouldering it. "Oh no you don't," he said, glaring. "My pack, I'll carry it!"

Sheppard shrugged. Fine. But any sign of heatstroke… he tried not to think about it. But that reminded him. "Hey," he called, causing Ronon to stop hacking at vines and Teyla to turn to look at him, "We'll be going for a couple of hours, until it gets too hot. I want everyone to drink plenty of water. And tell me if you feel anything's wrong…I'll listen this time." The last he said softly enough that only Rodney could hear. He couldn't tell if he had, though, because the scientist had his eyes averted and his face carefully neutral. Great. "Rodney—" He started.

"Well, time to go!" Rodney said with painfully fake cheerfulness. He walked briskly after Ronon, leaving Sheppard and Teyla to follow in his wake.

This was going to be a long, long hike, Sheppard thought morosely.

The jungle growth was so thick that it took them nearly two hours to arrive at the spot above where the tunnel ended. Everyone was slightly out-of-breath and red-faced, and the day was really starting to heat up. Sheppard had been forcing water on his people, much to their annoyance. They had each consumed almost two canteens full. Luckily, they had passed several streams where they could refill their water, although he was starting to worry they hadn't brought enough water purification tabs. They only had six left. But they now all had full canteens, and hopefully they would soon be in the tunnel and headed for home.

Rodney had the scanner reattached to the power supply of the life-signs detector, making it look something like Frankenstein's monster meets a laptop. He was standing in the small clearing they had reached, turning slowly in a circle, emitting the occasional "uh-huh," and "hmm."

"Well?" Sheppard asked, finally unable to contain himself.

Rodney gave him a look. "Well, this is where the energy signature—and therefore the tunnel—stops," he said. "Well, actually…" he walked a little farther, to where a boulder sat mostly hidden by the dense undergrowth, "_This _is where it stops. Just under here."

Sheppard came to stand at his side, regarding the boulder. "I'll lay odds this is the entrance," he said.

Rodney sniffed. "If there even is one here," he said doubtfully.

Sheppard reached out to touch the boulder. _Open_, he thought at it. Nothing happened.

Rodney walked to the side of the boulder. "If you were telling it to open, Colonel, then it didn't work. No energy increase at all."

"Plus, nothing opened," Sheppard pointed out.

Rodney gave him a look, but didn't say anything. Seriously, the lack of snappy comebacks had started to worry Sheppard. He hoped that nothing in that huge brain had been fried by the fever.

"Perhaps there is a hidden entrance?" Teyla suggested.

With no better plan, all four people began to hunt around the boulder, Rodney hampered by his refusal to put down the cobbled-together scanner. Ronon and Teyla forced their way to the far side of the rock, pushing through thick vines. Sheppard searched around the base on the near side. Rodney was apparently looking at the rock surface itself.

Sheppard was the one that found it: a small lever, nearly hidden beneath the rock and years' accumulation of leaves. "Found something," he said, and immediately reached to pull it.

"Colonel, stop! I don't think that's a good—" Rodney started, reaching out to stop him. It was too late, though, as Sheppard had already pulled it. The lever flipped with surprisingly little resistance, and then the boulder began to move. It slid away from them with a grinding sound, forcing into the vines and into…oh damn!

He heard a yell from behind the boulder as it collided with Teyla and Ronon, who were still back there. There was more grinding, some yelps, and some really, really unsettling scraping and crushing noises. Sheppard and Rodney leaped around the rock as it settled to a stop.

Sheppard was afraid of what he would find, and consequently, Rodney beat him to the far side of the rock. The scientist actually dropped his scanner—an act that made Sheppard's blood run cold—and reached out to Teyla, who was half-sitting at the base of the rock. Ronon, for his part, was standing, but seemed to be pinned between the rock and a tree, just to the left of Teyla.

"Ah, sorry," Sheppard said weakly. "You guys ok?"

Rodney gave him a dirty look from where he was trying to dig Teyla's legs out of the soil that had ploughed up behind the boulder. She was wincing, but helping him, and seemed relatively intact. Ronon just grunted. He didn't appear to be in pain, but then he never would, and he was definitely pinned.

"Of course they're not alright!" Rodney snapped. "You just crushed them with a giant boulder!"

_Oh, god, I've done it again_! Sheppard realized with a sick feeling. First he nearly killed Rodney, then he nearly killed the other two. And interspersed with that, he had spent two hours futilely digging in the gravel, when McKay had told him it wouldn't work. Feeling a little nauseous, he hurried over to help, squeezing behind Ronon's tree to try to get him free.

"I'm sorry, guys," he panted as he tried to get Ronon unstuck. "It just kind of seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It is alright, Colonel," Teyla assured him, although the effect was ruined somewhat as she gasped with pain at something Rodney did to her leg.

"We're not dead, so don't worry about it," Ronon assured him.

Sheppard decided to let it go for now.

Several minutes later, all four Atlantians sat panting, once more in the clearing. A quick assessment had shown that Teyla has a twisted ankle and Ronon had bruised ribs, but no one had broken anything. Thank god for small favors. "So," Rodney panted, glaring at Sheppard, "the next time the genius astrophysicist tells you not to do something, what do you do?"

"I listen to the genius astrophysicist," Sheppard said meekly. Partly, he was starting to see Rodney's point. But also, he wanted to see how Rodney would react to him actually admitting it.

He wasn't disappointed. Teyla and Ronon both stared at him, and Rodney's eyes got as big as saucers before he caught himself. "Er, yeah," he said weakly.

Sheppard smirked at the reaction. After a moment more of silence, Ronon spoke up. "So now what?" he asked, gesturing at the hole that had been revealed underneath the rock.

Sheppard struggled to his feet and went over to stand at the edge. He flicked on the light of his P-90 and shone it down. The dancing light revealed stone steps leading down to a floor about ten feet below. The passageway was also about ten feet wide, made of smooth stone or stone-like metal. There were lights, casting a dim light. It was enough to see by, but didn't reveal the details of the tunnel as well as his flashlight.

Sheppard glanced up at McKay, then back at Teyla and Ronon, who had staggered over to stand behind them and regard the hole. "So," he said.

"So," Ronon echoed.

"Shall we?" Sheppard said, indicating the hole.

"Not so fast, Colonel," Rodney said, stopping him from where he was about to start down the stairs. "Honestly, it's like traveling with a two-year-old! If you insist on blundering into an unknown tunnel with inadequate lighting, at the very least let me take some readings first."

Sheppard glowered, but did as he was told. After a few minutes of pushing buttons and waving the scanner around, McKay swore and turned it off. "Damn it!"

"What?" Sheppard asked, concerned.

"Power cells are depleted."

"_Both _power cells, or just the one from the life-signs detector?"

"Yes, both power cells! Did you think that I meant the amplification would only affect the one?"

Well, yes, actually, but he thought it would be prudent not to mention that. Instead, he said, "What did you get before it died?"

"Well, now that the tunnel's open, it's a little more clear. Looks like there are power conduits running along the tunnels, with pretty constant power. It also looks like there are patches of higher power readings, which might be control rooms or devices of some sort." As he went on his face became more animated. Probably the thought of new, cool Ancient devices. Sheppard smiled, watching him. "Biggest source of power is, unfortunately, at the far end of the long tunnel."

"And we care why?" Sheppard asked, focused only on getting his people back safely to the Stargate.

"We _care, _Colonel, because that power signature is almost definitely a ZedPM, and from the amount of power, it's a nearly fully-charged one." McKay said with excitement and satisfaction.

"Oh wow," Sheppard breathed. "We could really use another one of those."

"Yes, yes we could."

"So, is it safe?" Sheppard asked, indicating the tunnel.

"No clue," Rodney admitted after a moment. "Power readings don't tell me much, and I didn't have time to do anything else. Do you still have a life-signs detector?"

"No, Rodney. _You _had the life-signs detector, and you cannibalized it for parts."

McKay rolled his eyes. "To get enough power to take readings! Fine, fine. We'll just have to see how safe it is the old-fashioned way." He swallowed and looked down into the hole. "At least it's not dark."

"Are we ready to go now?" Sheppard asked, fidgeting impatiently.

"Ready as I'll ever be," McKay acknowledged. Teyla and Ronon nodded.

Sheppard went down first, followed by McKay, then Teyla, and finally Ronon. He had a hand on his P-90 just in case, and he saw that, surprisingly, McKay had his hand on the butt of his 9mm. Ronon, of course, had his weapon out.

He heard a sharp intake of breath from Teyla as she descended the stairs, and turned just in time to see her stumble, and be caught by Rodney. "You ok?" Sheppard asked.

"I am fine," she said, although she did nothing to shake off McKay's steadying hand on her elbow. "I stepped incorrectly on my ankle."

"Teyla, I'm sorry about that," Sheppard said. "I wasn't thinking about how the rock—"

"Do not worry," she said, with a kind smile. "None of us could have known. I will be fine."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Rodney immediately let go of her. Now that they were on the level, she seemed to be able to stand ok. It was just a sprain, after all, and they had wrapped it. But Sheppard decided he should keep an eye on her, and try to keep the running to a minimum. He sincerely hoped it was safe down here.

Rodney came to stand beside him. He gestured in front of them. "That way," he said, although since there was nothing behind them but the stairs, it was pretty obvious. "It's about a kilometer to where this tunnel meets the main one. Then we can decide if we want to go right back to the Stargate and get reinforcements, or to go after the ZedPM."

Sheppard nodded. "So off we go." They headed down the tunnel, which became better-illuminated by the row of ceiling lights as they got farther from the stairs. The floor sloped gently downwards. The walls were smooth gray and brown stone. They were completely dry, which was surprising considering how wet the rest of the planet was, but that was the Ancients for you. It wouldn't do to have their secret underground base get ruined by seeping water. Still, it was amazingly well-preserved for being ten thousand years old. Even McKay seemed impressed, judging from how quiet he was. Or maybe that was just fear.

As the four headed down the tunnel, none of them thought to look back behind them, where a blue light had started to glow.


	7. Rock and Roll

**Chapter 7: Rock and Roll **

Rodney stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Teyla to collide with him before she caught herself. "What was that?" He had definitely heard something. Something behind them.

"What did it sound like?" Sheppard asked.

"Scraping," Rodney answered, turning to look nervously the way they had come.

"Perhaps the rock moved back," Teyla said.

"Great, so now we're trapped down here!" Rodney said, feeling the familiar fingers of claustrophobia clutch at his chest and drive his voice up an octave.

"Relax," Sheppard said. "We do have the Stargate down here, and I'm sure the Ancients would have built a way to open the door from the bottom if we really need to go back out that way."

Rodney took a few calming breaths and nodded. He opened his mouth to say something more when a really, really _loud _scraping, rumbling sound began behind them. "Ok, tell me you heard _that,_" he demanded, flattening himself against a wall.

"I heard it," Sheppard said grimly, pointing his P-90 back down the tunnel. The sound had resolved itself into an ominous rumbling. Everything began to vibrate, and the noise got louder, ending in a loud THUNK.

"Earthquake!" Rodney whimpered, pressing himself harder against the rock. A moment later, though, he realized he was wrong. In the dim light back down the tunnel, he saw that the 'thunk' had been caused by a huge boulder descending from the ceiling. And now, it had begun slowly rolling in their direction.

"Run!" Sheppard yelled as the boulder started picking up speed. Rodney didn't have to be told twice, and neither did anyone else. They dashed down the tunnel, Ronon helping Teyla, whose ankle was slowing her. But they were both still faster than Rodney. He was running as fast as he could, but he was weighed down by his pack, and frankly, he admitted, he could probably be in better shape. Maybe Sheppard had a point about it being a good idea to work on his stamina if he was going to be on off-world missions.

Behind him, he heard the boulder picking up speed. He ran, gasping, watching the others get farther and farther ahead. He blinked the sweat out of his eyes. No wait, that wasn't right. Sheppard seemed to be slowing down. Soon they were running side-by-side. "What…are you doing?" he demanded breathlessly.

"What do you mean?" Sheppard asked. "Did you expect me to leave you behind, McKay?"

"So instead…both of us…will be crushed to death," Rodney panted. "Much…more…logical."

"Save your breath," Sheppard suggested, glancing behind them. "Shit! Run faster!"

To Rodney's amazement, that actually worked. The adrenaline generated by the tone of Sheppard's voice actually spurred him to move faster. So fast that when a hand reached out from the wall and grabbed him, he almost fell flat on his face. He yelped as he was drawn towards the wall, until he realized the hand that held him was Ronon's. The runner was pressed into an alcove in the wall, and Teyla was behind him. "Colonel!" Ronon shouted.

Sheppard had already seen what was going on, though, and had stopped. He hurriedly wedged himself into the alcove as well. There wasn't really enough room for two people, let alone four, and Rodney tried very hard to keep from hyperventilating as he was crushed between Ronon and Sheppard. He couldn't see a thing around the Colonel's flak vest. He could, however, hear the boulder. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and he squeezed his eyes shut as it was right on top of them.

Then, the noise began to recede as it passed them and continued rolling down the tunnel. Everyone stayed frozen for a second, then cautiously stepped back into the tunnel. Rodney looked at Sheppard, who had been standing closest to the boulder. The Colonel's face was ashen and he was shaking slightly. The front of his vest looked a little scuffed, too. Rodney shuddered at how close the boulder must have been to him. "Colonel?" he asked, concerned. "You ok?"

Sheppard swallowed. "Too…damned…close," he breathed. "What the hell was that about?" he yelled, looking at the ceiling as if the answer was there. At least the yelling was bringing color back to his face.

Teyla limped over to him. "I believe someone did not want intruders," she said.

Sheppard looked down at her. His panic attack seemed to have receded, which was good, because seeing the usually-in-control Colonel crack at the edges had really unnerved Rodney. "Teyla, how's the ankle?" Sheppard asked, concern in his voice.

"It will be fine." Teyla assured him.

"Especially if we have to do any more of _that_," Rodney muttered, staring at where the boulder had gone.

"I don't hear it anymore," Ronon commented, following Rodney's gaze. He was right. The rolling had stopped. That either meant it had gotten too far away to hear, or that it had hit something. Either way they should be ok as long as the tunnel kept tilting downward.

"Well," Sheppard said, clearing his throat. "That was horrible. Shall we see what else the Ancients have in store for us?"

Rodney took the lead this time, as it appeared to be the safest place to be. Well, that was assuming the threats would all come from behind, come to think of it. He really wished his scanner was still working. Speaking of which…

"Well, at least we know what the high-energy areas are for," Sheppard commented to him, apparently reaching the same conclusion he had.

Rodney nodded. "Quite possibly."

"What?" Ronon asked, not catching on.

"It's booby-traps," Rodney explained. "That boulder came out of the ceiling right about where the first high-energy area was."

"I don't suppose you noticed where the other ones were?" Sheppard asked hopefully.

Rodney shook his head and regretted the loss of the scanner all the more. "No. I didn't have time. But there are at least four more areas between here and the main—" he broke off. "Oh, no," he breathed, stopping dead in his tracks.

Sheppard stopped as well. "What?" he asked, eyes wide.

Rodney swallowed, looking at the stone he was standing on, which had just sunk about a centimeter under his foot. "That," he said.

Sheppard followed his gaze. "Oh shit."

"What is happening?" Teyla asked, sounding frightened.

Sheppard looked around. "Well…at least stepping ON it didn't trigger anything," he said in what Rodney was sure was supposed to be a comforting tone, although if it were, it failed miserably.

"Oh great! So now as long as I keep standing here, we're all perfectly safe," Rodney said, voice rising again. He was panicking, but he felt somewhat entitled. This had quite possibly been the worst two days of his life. Well, the worst since Kolya had taken over the city…no wait, there were the days surrounding the Wraith attacking Atlantis…or maybe…Well fine. But these last two days, particularly the last few minutes, were right up there.

"Calm down," Sheppard said, patting his arm. "We'll think of something."

"Fine. While you think of something, I'll just be over here standing on what is probably the trigger for a really, really nasty and horrible way to die!" Rodney snapped back.

"Will someone please explain to me what is going on?" Teyla demanded, losing some of her usual calm.

"Trap," Ronon said by way of completely useless explanation. At least he himself seemed to know what was happening, though.

Rodney forced himself to calm down enough to grit out, "The rock I'm on moved when I stepped on it. So obviously when I step _off of it_, it's going to trigger something."

"How do you know that?" Teyla asked.

"Because that's always how it works," Sheppard said from where he was poking at the base of a wall.

"What are you doing?" Rodney asked.

"Looking for a rock."

"It would take a hell of a rock to displace my weight," Rodney pointed out.

"Hell of a rock here a minute ago," Ronon said dryly. Rodney glowered at him. Now was not the time to discover the Satedan had a sense of humor.

"Uh-oh," Sheppard commented. He had stopped moving.

"Oh please don't tell me," Rodney said, rolling his eyes.

"'Fraid so," Sheppard said glumly, looking at the rock he was standing on, which had just shifted down. "Ronon, Teyla, don't move, ok?"

"There are more trigger rocks?" Teyla asked, standing as still as possible.

"There any way to tell which are which?" Ronon asked. He shifted to look down at the rock Rodney was standing on, which looked just like any other rock on the floor. But Ronon apparently saw something, because he nodded to himself, then started across the floor towards Sheppard, studying rocks as he went.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rodney demanded. "He said not to move!"

Ronon ignored him and kept going, occasionally stepping out of his way to avoid a rock, until he came to stand by Sheppard, studying his rock. He nodded in satisfaction. "Got it."

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Rodney asked as calmly as he was capable.

"Trigger rocks are a different color," Ronon explained. "More gray." Rodney looked at the rock he was standing on, which was gray, then at the surrounding rocks, which were gray. "Ooookay, whatever you say," he said skeptically.

"I didn't step on one, did I?" Ronon pointed out.

"Well, how lovely for you and Teyla! Now you can get out of here while Sheppard and I blow ourselves up when we collapse from exhaustion standing on these rocks!"

"Rodney!" Sheppard snapped. "That's not helping."

"Well, excuse me for having a well-deserved panic attack!"

"Ronon, Teyla," Sheppard said, ignoring Rodney, "You two get out of here. Go far enough down the tunnel that whatever happens to us…doesn't happen to you."

"We are not leaving you here!" Teyla exclaimed, appalled.

"What can you do to help?" Sheppard asked. "As Rodney pointed out, there's nothing heavy enough to prop these rocks when we step off. Besides, I have a plan."

Teyla still looked at him, unsure. "But…"

"That's an order if it makes it any easier," Sheppard said. "Ronon, get her out of here. Teyla, unless you can see the color changes like he can, step where he tells you to step."

"Are you certain about this?" she asked. Ronon was already coming back towards her, eyes intent on the rocks beneath his feet.

"Sure I'm sure. Trust me." Sheppard smiled.

Rodney snorted. He had a pretty good idea of what Sheppard's plan was. And as terrifying as it was, it really was the only option, and they definitely needed to get Teyla and Ronon out of the way.

He and Sheppard watched as Ronon and Teyla made their way hesitantly down the tunnel. They stopped about a hundred meters away. "No more trigger rocks," Ronon called back by way of explanation. "This far enough?"

Sheppard waved in response, then turned to Rodney. "Ready?" he asked.

Rodney shivered. "Just to be clear on this plan, the idea is to run like hell, correct?"

Sheppard grinned. "I knew you'd understand." The smile fell. "Unless you have a better idea," he said quietly.

There it was again. It was creepy. If Rodney didn't know any better, he would swear Sheppard kept deferring to him to make decisions. What was going on? Rodney blinked. Well, now wasn't the time to try to figure it out. There really wasn't anything else they could do. "No, I don't have a better way," he said. "Do you think that both rocks do the same thing?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I really hope so."

Rodney snorted. "Unless what they both do is explode, in which case I kind of hope yours doesn't."

"Mine? Why?" Sheppard asked, confused.

"Because yours is between me and my escape route," Rodney explained.

"Oh," Sheppard said, looking back at his rock. "Well, maybe you should go first, then."

"Right. And then if it triggers a volley of arrows, you die. No thanks. We go together."

Sheppard looked at him a moment, then nodded. "On three?"

"Wait, wait!" Rodney said, holding up a hand. "_On _three, or after three?"

"Oh for the love of—" Sheppard bit off, but his smirk was back. "ON three. On the number three, we both run like hell."

Rodney swallowed. It felt like a whole field full of butterflies were trying to escape his stomach. "On three," he managed.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" Both men leapt off their rocks and began to run, as the world exploded around them.


	8. A Dark and Scary Place

**Chapter 8: A Dark and Scary Place**

"Rodney, you ok?" Sheppard asked hoarsely, coughing as dust settled over him. He felt terribly disoriented. As the walls had buckled towards them and the doors had slammed down in the corridor, the lights had also gone out, plunging them into darkness. He got that the trap was supposed to crush them as the walls closed in, but what he didn't quite understand is why they weren't dead. Well, he wasn't, anyway. From where he had fallen, he could feel one wall against his back and the other one against his legs. He figured they had stopped about three feet apart.

He struggled to his feet. "Rodney?" he called again.

This time he was answered. By a blood-curdling scream. "Ohgodohgodohgod!" Rodney cried from somewhere in the darkness. "Help! Get me out!" His yelling degenerated into something less than intelligible words.

Sheppard crawled towards the voice, noticing as he did so that the walls were tapering closer together. He found Rodney wedged in a sitting position, partly turned. He was being pressed on both sides by the walls, although probably not hard enough to cause damage.

But oh damn. Claustrophobia, and the walls really _had_ closed in on him! Poor Rodney! Sheppard grabbed him by the shoulder and chin. "Rodney, listen to me! You're ok!"

Rodney didn't stop thrashing and yelling. Sheppard let go for a moment to switch on the light on his P-90. "RODNEY!" he said more loudly.

Rodney turned panic-filled eyes on him, still babbling incoherently. Sheppard grabbed him by the shoulder and arm and pulled backwards, managing to free the panicky scientist. In fact, he managed to free him with such force that he was toppled mostly on his back, with Rodney on top of him.

He grunted in pain as Rodney's thrashing put an elbow in his ribs. "Rodney, stop it! I've got you! It's ok!" But nothing was getting through. He sighed and slapped Rodney's cheek. Hard.

That worked, to some degree. Rodney stopped moving, surprised, then collapsed on top of him. "The walls…" he mumbled through a face full of flak vest. "Oh god, the walls are closing in…"

Sheppard wrapped his arms around Rodney's back, feeling the other man shivering. "Calm down," he soothed, "they stopped."

Rodney took a few shuddering breaths, then pushed himself up off of Sheppard, who immediately let him go. As Rodney sat up, the room got brighter, as he had been blocking the flashlight before. Rodney swallowed and stared at Sheppard. "They walls really did close in," he whispered, wild-eyed.

Sheppard grimaced and sat up. They were still pressed very close in the narrow space, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. "You ok?" he asked.

Rodney stared at him. "No, I'm NOT ok! How the hell could I be ok? Hello, claustrophobia? Walls closing in? Well, they really DID close in this time!" He started shaking again.

"Rodney!" Sheppard nearly shouted in his face, trying to stop the rising panic attack. "I meant, are you injured?"

Rodney took another breath, making a heroic attempt to calm down. "I don't think so. You?"

Sheppard moved various arms and legs experimentally. "Just bruised, I think."

"Well, the rocks didn't explode," Rodney said, trying a small smile, still clearly one step away from panic.

Sheppard clambered to his feet. "No, they didn't. Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here,."

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say. "We're trapped?" Rodney whimpered. Then more loudly, "Oh god, we're trapped below tons of earth and the walls close in and there's no way out and no food or water and we're going to die down here and no one will ever find our bodies and—" He broke off when Sheppard slapped him again. "Ow," he muttered.

"Sorry," Sheppard said insincerely. He pulled Rodney to his feet by the arm, eliciting a cry. "What?"

Rodney pulled his arm away, rubbing at his shoulder. "That hurt. I think there's something wrong with my shoulder."

Sheppard thought about how he had been wedged in by the walls. "Let me see."

Rodney turned his right side towards Sheppard for inspection. He probed the shoulder, gently rotated the arm. Rodney sucked in a breath, but didn't cry out. "I think it's just bruised," he said after a moment. "At least, there doesn't seem to be any dislocation."

Rodney nodded. "Now what?" he asked tentatively.

By way of reply Sheppard tapped his radio. "Teyla, Ronon, you guys ok?" he asked. When there was no reply, he exchanged a look with Rodney.

"Ronon, Teyla?" Rodney tried, tapping his own radio. Still no response. "Must be the shielding," he told Sheppard with a painfully fake confidence.

Sheppard nodded, deciding to accept that for now. "Right. Let's get out of here."

"How?" Rodney asked, looking panicky again.

Sheppard started walking towards where Ronon and Teyla had headed, which was the direction they needed to go and also the way the walls widened. "We go…this way," he said, gently tugging Rodney after him. The scientist followed along, uncomplaining.

About one hundred feet down the tunnel from where Sheppard's rock had been was where the door had slammed down from the ceiling, sealing them in. At that point, the walls had stopped about six feet apart. Sheppard shone the light upwards, and saw why, as well as why the lights had gone out. Apparently the tunnel wasn't in_ that _good a shape. There was a crack on the ceiling here. One piece of ceiling had nearly fallen with the door, pulling wires out (destroying the lights), and blocking the walls from coming together all the way.

"We're alive due to shoddy construction," Rodney said, giggling. There was something disturbingly hysterical about the sound, and Sheppard wanted more than ever to get his friend out of the confined space.

"Rodney," he said, trying to draw the man's attention away from the claustrophobia, "Think you can get anything going with all the wires up there?"

Rodney followed his gaze to the exposed wires in the ceiling. "Well, I suppose I could probably work on a really good case of electric shock. But I assume you meant more along the lines of getting the door up."

Sheppard tried on a smirk. Rodney was sounding more like his old self. "Yes, more like that. Can you do it?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?" Rodney answered automatically. "The problem will be getting up to it." The ceiling, even partly fallen down, was still about eight feet over their heads.

"You could stand on my shoulders," Sheppard suggested.

Rodney gave him a look. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Well, since I don't see any conveniently-placed stepladders, then no, I'm not kidding you."

Rodney looked up again as a spark crackled from the damaged wires. "I wasn't kidding about the electric shock," he commented.

Sheppard followed his gaze, then clapped Rodney on the shoulder. "I know you can do it," he said with far more cheer than he felt.

"What, shock myself? I'm sure you're right," Rodney muttered, but he had started pulling things out of his pack, which was miraculously still with them. "This will be trickier without proper light or my scanner," he said over his shoulder, "but probably not impossible." He stood up, shoving tools into his pockets. "How exactly are we going to do this?"

Well, that _was _the million-dollar question, wasn't it? Sheppard was in good shape, but Rodney wasn't exactly Kate Moss. He was heavy. And probably not strong enough to be very stable. "I think you'll be high enough if you sit on my shoulders," he said slowly, gauging distances.

"Oh lovely," Rodney muttered.

After several false starts, Sheppard had managed to hoist the scientist up, and stood swaying as Rodney reached for a wire. "Can you reach?" he panted.

"Yeah," Rodney responded, sounding strained. "Barely. Look, Sheppard…"

"Yes?"

"You ever breath a word of this to anyone, and I'll deny it and seek revenge until the day I die," Rodney told him calmly.

Sheppard snickered. "My lips are sealed."

Rodney worked in silence for several minutes, the only sound their breathing and the occasional popping of electricity. Suddenly he let out a yell, and Sheppard actually felt the arcing of electricity through his body from Rodney's as they both fell to the floor. The flashlight hit hard and went out, plunging the room back into darkness.

Sheppard lay stunned for a moment. He could still feel the electric jolt, not to mention the jolt of having the wind knocked out of him from falling down. When his head cleared, he felt around for Rodney.

He found him laying sprawled against a wall, breathing hard. "Rodney?" he asked softly, feeling for a pulse. He found it, strong and rapid.

Rodney batted his hand away and coughed. "Sorry. I'm sorry." With a small click, a light came on. When Sheppard could see again, he saw Rodney holding a penlight and looking at him guiltily.

"What?" Sheppard demanded in the dark. "You're sorry for being electrocuted?"

He was close enough to feel Rodney shrug. "Yeah," he said by way of explanation.

"I was the one who told you to go up there. That make the second time in two days," Sheppard said bitterly, unable to stop himself.

"What are you talking about?" Rodney demanded. "Second time for what?"

"Second time I've nearly killed you," Sheppard said softly, looking away.

Rodney looked at him, face a mask of confusion. "What do you mean, _you _nearly killed me? My own stupidity nearly killed me!"

Now it was Sheppard's turn to stare. "Rodney. You spent two hours—TWO HOURS—telling me yesterday that something wasn't right. If I had been paying more attention you wouldn't have…you wouldn't have…" his voice trailed away. He wasn't good at this emotion stuff, and right now he could feel quite a bit of emotion.

"You're blaming _yourself_ for that?" Rodney asked incredulously. "I thought you were mad at _me_ for being so stupid!"

Well, hell. Sheppard shook his head. "And I thought you were mad at me for letting it happen."

Rodney grinned crookedly, looking relieved. "So you're really not mad?"

"Well, not at _you_," Sheppard clarified.

"It really wasn't your fault. I should have been more…obvious," Rodney said softly. "Look, I know I complain pretty constantly about stuff like that. You had no way of knowing. Hell, I didn't even know I was really sick until I saw the look on your face."

Sheppard flopped his head against the wall. "Still, I'm the leader of the team. It's my job to keep you all safe, not try to get you all killed."

"John," Rodney said softly. Sheppard looked at him, startled. He had never called him by his first name before. "None of this is your fault," Rodney said, looking at him steadily.

"What about nearly crushing Teyla and Ronon with a rock?" Sheppard demanded.

"Still not your fault. Stupid, maybe, but not your fault," Rodney said, undeterred. "Yes, so you leapt before you looked. But hey. That approach usually works for you." He smiled gently. "Sheppard, we're all doing our best here. Stop being so hard on yourself."

Sheppard stared for a moment. "When did you get to be wise, McKay?" he asked, grinning suddenly.

Rodney shrugged, looking vaguely embarrassed. "Hey. I just don't want…I don't want you to stop trusting yourself."

Ah, trust. It all came down to that, didn't it? And Rodney was right. For the last several hours, he really had been slowing losing faith in his leadership skills. He realized now that was probably more destructive to the team than any little mistake had had made. "Everyone makes mistakes," he mused softly.

Rodney nodded. "Yes. I'm glad you finally agree."

"But I want you to stop blaming yourself for the heatstroke," Sheppard continued. "That wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't yours."

"Fine, let's blame Mother Nature then," Sheppard suggested, sensing an argument he couldn't win.

Rodney nodded. "Works for me. I've always thought she was a bitch anyway."

Sheppard chuckled and got to his feet. He held out a hand to help McKay up. "Well, let's see what we can do about this, shall we?"

Rodney stood up reluctantly. "I'm not sure there's anything we _can _do."

"Why?"

"Circuits are pretty fried. It looks like the ones powering the door were badly damaged."

"Well, if anyone can do it, you can," Sheppard said confidently.

Rodney gave him a look. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"I guess I've been listening to the hype," Sheppard said, keeping his tone light.

Rodney snorted, but he looked pleased. That is, until he looked back up at the frying circuits. They were, if anything, jumping and sparking more than ever. "Dammit," he muttered.

Sheppard sighed. It didn't look good. He wondered if there was anything that Ronon and Teyla could do from their side. But neither of them had the gene, did they? So they wouldn't have been able to do anything even if they found an access panel. Speaking of them, now that they were closer…he activated his radio again. "Ronon, Teyla. Please respond."

He was greeted by static, and nothing more. Rodney's shoulders sagged, and Sheppard realized he had been just as hopeful that the radios would work. "The door must be shielded," Rodney said unhappily. "I'm sure they're fine."

Sheppard wasn't, and he didn't think Rodney was either, but he didn't say anything. He just walked back over to stand beneath the frying wires. "Ready to try this again?" he asked.

"No," Rodney said honestly. "But considering we have no choice in the matter…"

"Just try not to electrocute yourself again," Sheppard said.

"Oh, thank you. I needed to be told that. Otherwise, I might have done it just for the unique feel of welding my fingertips to hot metal!" Rodney snapped.

"You hurt your fingers?" Sheppard asked, concerned.

Rodney actually hid his hand behind his back, even though with only the penlight it was too dark to see anyway. "I'm fine."

Sheppard snorted, unconvinced. "Sure. We're both fine. And we'll be even more fine when we get back to Atlantis and pay a little visit to Carson."

Rodney relaxed when he realized Sheppard had included himself in that statement. "You know," he admitted, "I don't think I'd mind that very much right now. Let's get out of here." He shuddered, glancing again at the walls.

Sheppard nodded and hoisted Rodney up again. He tried his best to hold still, but with Rodney moving about that was almost impossible. Rodney muttered absently while he worked, occasionally flinching as a popping wire got too close. After several minutes, his body tensed. "What is it?" Sheppard asked.

"I think I've got it," Rodney replied. "But we're going to have to get through immediately once I open this, because it'll come right back down again."

"Understood. Go ahead."

"And…ah, there's a teeny, tiny possibility that this will cause another small spark."

"As in, you're about to electrocute us again?"

"As I said, Colonel, there's a small chance of that."

Sheppard sighed. They still didn't have a choice. Besides, it didn't seem to be a fatal voltage anyway. "Go ahead."

As Rodney made the last connection, Sheppard realized that the voltage was much, much higher this time.


	9. Leap of Faith

A/N: I'm glad that people are making the Indiana Jones connection with this. Yes, I AM shamelessly ripping off Raiders of the Lost Ark. :D

oOo **  
**

**Chapter 9: Leap of Faith **

Rodney awoke to the sensation of someone gently slapping his face. His eyes flew open to complete darkness. "Oh god!" he exclaimed, sitting bolt upright, claustrophobia crushing the breath from his lungs. The walls were going to close in again, if they weren't already. Ohgodohgod…

Someone roughly grabbed his shoulders. "Calm down," Ronon's voice said firmly. "You're fine. It's just dark."

Rodney forced himself to take a breath and calm down. "Sheppard?" he asked, managing to keep his voice close to the normal range in pitch and volume, with only a slight crack in the middle of the name.

"Right here," came Sheppard's voice off to his left.

Relief flooded through him. "So we got through the door?"

"Yeah. And you were right about the…ah…slight shock," Sheppard said, voice heavy with sarcasm. "Jesus, McKay! Why didn't you tell me how big a jolt that would be?"

Oh right, electricity. Rodney noticed for the first time how much his fingers hurt. He hissed, pressing his hand against his chest. Second degree burns, for sure. So much for having his fingers for typing. He took quick stock of his other symptoms: heart rate was fast, but steady, head hurt badly, shoulder hurt…actually, pretty much everything hurt. He sagged back down, not even caring as Ronon's strong arms helped him. "Sheppard, you ok?" he asked, realizing he wasn't the only one suffering the aftereffects of acute electrocution.

"I'm fine. I'm not the one who was unconscious."

"Is that 'I'm fine' as in 'I'm not injured,' or 'I'm fine' as in 'I won't die before we get home to Beckett, probably?'" Rodney asked, trying not to think about the 'unconsciousness' comment.

Sheppard sighed in the dark. "Little bit of one, little bit of the other. I'm…functional. How are you?"

Rodney was tired of being stoic, and he realized that none of his teammates particularly expected him to be. He sighed. "Hurt like hell. Headache, shoulderache, burned the hell out of my fingers. But I can walk, so yeah. Little bit of both."

Sheppard moved closer. "Glad to hear it."

"Hey," Rodney said suddenly. "Where's Teyla?"

"I am here," she said immediately. "Do not worry."

"You ok?" Rodney asked. "And Ronon? Did you guys get caught in anything…nasty?" He shuddered, thinking about the walls closing in.

"We are fine," Teyla reassured him. "Nothing happened on our side of the door except that the lights went out. We were very worried."

"Join the club," Sheppard muttered.

"Why'd the lights go out?" Ronon asked.

"The…the trap," Rodney said, swallowing and trying not to think about the damned walls closing in, "when the door came down, it brought down part of the ceiling. Shorted out the lights. Hopefully just in this area."

"Also saved our asses," Sheppard pointed out. "If the ceiling hadn't come down…" be broke off. "Sorry, McKay."

Rodney shivered. "Yeah, not wanting to think about that."

"I believe the lights are off in the whole tunnel," Teyla said. "I see no light at all, and the tunnel is straight, is it not?"

Damn. She was right. Hopefully this wouldn't affect the Stargate. Rodney decided that that was one fear he should keep to himself, though. "Right," he said. "You're right. But it also means there won't be power going to the traps, so it should be pretty safe."

"As long as there aren't any pits full of snakes or something," Sheppard pointed out dryly.

"Oh thank you, Mary Sunshine!" Rodney snapped. "Does anyone have a light?"

"Mine's broken," Sheppard said. "And I think yours is still on the other side of the door."

"I've got nothing," Ronon said.

"I have my lighter," Teyla said, "but I do not know if it would be helpful. It can only be used for short bursts, and our eyes would not be able to adjust to the light that fast."

"Anybody got a torch?" Sheppard asked, sounding as if he didn't really expect an answer.

Rodney was thinking about it seriously, though. What did they have on them that would burn? Clothes? Probably not. Military issue clothing tended to be fire-retardant. Power bars?

"I've got a flash-bang," Sheppard offered.

"Oh, yes, Colonel, _that _would be helpful," Rodney snapped, irritated at the distraction. Anyway…what else did he have that would burn? Pack? No…wait a minute. He dug out the scanner and flipped it on. Its power cell was too far gone for it to work, but maybe…yes! The screen glowed faintly. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Well," Sheppard said after a minute, "Better than nothing."

"Not much," Ronon said.

Rodney tried to ignore his less-than-supportive teammates. The light was just enough to make large shapes visible: he could make out the bulk of Ronon, next to him, Teyla, over near a wall, and Sheppard, leaning against the wall next to her. But it was too dim to see the ceiling, and not really bright enough to show them the floor. But it was all they had. He tried to stand, and immediately sank back down, legs like rubber. He now had a pretty good idea of why Sheppard was leaning against a wall.

"You ok?" Ronon asked.

"Just…help me up," Rodney grimaced, holding out a hand. With Ronon's help he was able to stand, and after a moment swaying, he was able to stand unassisted. God, he felt like crap. Well, tens of thousands of volts would do that to you. He held out the scanner. It didn't help. It was still dark. Dammit.

"Ready to go?" Sheppard asked jauntily, pushing away from the wall and walking over to Rodney, only staggering once.

Rodney gave him a look. "Little bit of both, huh?" he said out of the corner of his mouth.

"You're one to talk. I could, at least, stand up on my own," Sheppard replied, sounding affronted.

Rodney snorted, but didn't take the bait. Instead he just angled the scanner to point at the floor and started forward, placing his feet carefully. Sheppard walked close by his side, and Ronon and Teyla made up the rear. Huddling in a tight little knot around the meager light, the group made their way down the hall.

It was only because Rodney and his light were in the lead that they didn't fall into the pit. He was watching the floor, glowing very slightly blue in the light, when suddenly darkness loomed in front of him. With a yelp he stepped backwards, throwing an arm out to stop Sheppard and causing Teyla to run into his back. Her bump knocked him off balance, and he floundered, nearly falling anyway, until Sheppard's steadying arm caught him. "Good god," he panted when he could talk again.

"What is it?" Ronon asked, peering over the top of his head. "Oh," he said, catching sight of the hole.

"Wonder how deep it is," Sheppard mused, kneeling at the brink.

Rodney knelt too, holding the scanner into the pit. He couldn't see the bottom, but that didn't mean anything, since the light only went about a meter anyway. "No clue," he said.

There was a little clink in front of him, and he started and jumped backwards. "Relax, Rodney," Teyla said behind him. "I threw a pebble."

"Warn a person next time," Rodney said testily.

"I am sorry," Teyla said. "But I do not think it is deep at all. The stone hit almost immediately.

"Gimme that light," Sheppard said. Rodney complied, curious. Sheppard stretched out on his stomach and reached his arm down as far as it would go into the pit. Rodney bit off a comment about the possibility of having something reach up and grab it. "Ah-ha," Sheppard said momentarily.

"What? What?" Rodney asked. "You see the bottom?"

"Not exactly," Sheppard said, and Rodney could hear a smirk in his voice. "But I found where our big ass rock went."

"Oh," Rodney said. That explained why they had stopped hearing it rolling so soon.

"How far down is it?" Teyla asked.

"Looks like…" Sheppard grunted as he stretched his arm down as far as it would go. "Looks like just a few feet. But farther than that here at the edge, since the stone is round."

"So we can climb over it?" Ronon asked.

"Probably," Sheppard said, handing the scanner back to Rodney and sitting up. "Be a bit dangerous in the dark, though."

"Be a bit dangerous anyway," Rodney muttered. Sheppard's snort told him he had overheard. "We need better light, damn it!"

"I'm open to suggestion," Sheppard said.

"I've been trying to think of something we could make a torch out of," Rodney admitted. "But I can't seem to come up with anything."

"You'd probably have better luck trying to fix my flashlight," Sheppard commented.

"Well, hell," Rodney said, feeling stupid. Of course he could fix the flashlight. In the dark. With no tools. Child's play. "Hand it over."

"You can fix it?" Sheppard said, sounding surprised.

Rodney's only reply was to snap his fingers and point at the light. With a sigh, Sheppard unhooked it from the P-90 and handed it over. "I should have thought of this," Rodney muttered, frustrated.

Sheppard sat down beside him and quietly took the scanner, holding it to shed the best light possible. Rodney gave him a grateful glance before attacking the broken flashlight. "Don't beat yourself up for not thinking of it," Sheppard said after a moment.

Rodney snorted, not looking up. "Sure. Because it's a really easy thing to overlook. Broken piece of technology, I should have thought to fix this first. We could have been killed falling in a pit before I though of this!"

"Rodney," Sheppard said. Rodney glanced up at the tone, but it was too dark to see his face. "Look. You had just been knocked unconscious by a major dose of electricity. I don't think anyone here was expecting you to come up with a brilliant plan for light. And you _did _come up with the scanner, so give yourself some credit."

Oh boy. Their defenses must still be _really _low, Rodney thought. Sheppard never talked to him like this normally. And normally, he would never be berating himself aloud, either. "Thanks," he murmured softly. "Ah! Got it!" He clicked the light on and was surprised to hear Teyla actually clap in commendation.

"Good job, Mister Fix-it," Sheppard said, clapping him on the shoulder before standing back up.

Rodney grinned, but kept the light pointed away from his face so no one could see it. Fixing a flashlight wasn't exactly a major accomplishment, but right now, it felt like one. He handed the light to Sheppard and took back the scanner, switching it off and stowing it.

Sheppard pointed the light into the hole. With better illumination, Rodney could see that his assessment had been correct. The boulder sat in a hole, and the top portion of it was less than a meter below them. Of course, the near edge was a lot farther down than that.

"Bit of a crevasse to fall into," Sheppard said, gesturing at where the near side of the boulder rested against the side of the pit. "About eight feet down."

"So we jump," Ronon said.

"Onto a round boulder, with the top portion nearly two meters away from us?" Rodney demanded.

"Yeah," Ronon agreed. "Exactly."

"Maybe _you _can do that," Rodney said, realizing that was true, "but I'm not so sure the rest of us can. Teyla's got a sprained ankle—what do you think would happen if she lands on it?"

"I will be fine," Teyla assured him, sounding slightly annoyed at his concern.

"Ok," Rodney ploughed on, "then what about Sheppard? Don't think I haven't seen your lack of balance, and the fact that you're limping," he said as Sheppard opened his mouth to protest. "And as you can probably all guess, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I could jump that far without falling off." The last he admitted in a rush, glaring around at his teammates.

"Rodney, take a breath," Sheppard said when he stopped talking. He waved the light across the pit. "If you'll notice, the pit extends all the way from one side to the other. Jumping is the only way we're going to be able to get across. Unless you think we can scale it, or have another idea," he finished, raising an eyebrow.

At least, Rodney assumed he had. He couldn't actually see the man's face at the moment. It was just something Sheppard would have done. "No, I don't have an idea, I just don't want to fall off the side of a killer boulder," he said.

"It's a jump down," Ronon said. "So that would make it easier."

"And then the second jump?" Rodney demanded.

"Bigger target to aim for," Ronon shrugged.

"That'll definitely be the hard one," Sheppard nodded. "Still, I really don't think we have a choice, and we really want to get out of here before the power decides to come back on."

Rodney shuddered at the thought of all the traps they had probably triggered walking through the dark. But the odds that the power would fix itself spontaneously were next to zero.

"Ronon?" Sheppard said. "Want to show us how it's done?"

The runner grinned and leapt, catlike, onto the top of the boulder. It was less than two meters, Rodney realized, but not by much. One meter down, and about one and a half or two over. Let's see…square the legs, square root of the hypotenuse. Who cares? It was still too far to jump.

Sheppard held light steady on the rock. Ronon had landed perfectly, of course, and was now bunching his muscles to leap up to the other side of the tunnel. Sheppard shifted the light accordingly, and Ronon leapt. He had a little bit of trouble, but caught with his arms and vaulted over, coming to rest in a crouch. He straightened, smiling.

Sheppard turned to look at Rodney. "See, nothing to it." But he didn't sound as convincing as he probably thought he did.

"No way in hell," Rodney reiterated.

"Teyla, can you do that with your ankle?" Sheppard asked her.

"I believe so, Colonel," She returned. He held the light for her and she leapt, just as gracefully as Ronon. Her landing was awkward, though, because she landed only on one foot. She had to wave her arms to brace herself. But then the was on top of the boulder. Sheppard moved the light again, and she jumped. She would have missed, lacking the push-off power of two feet, but Ronon caught her wrists and hoisted her up.

Rodney took a shuddering breath, feeling Sheppard's eyes on him. "Your turn," the Colonel said.

"Aren't I the lucky one?" Rodney took a step forward, then stopped. "Sheppard, I can't do this! You _know _I can't do this!"

Sheppard moved the flashlight so that it partially illuminated his face. So that Rodney could see his eyes. "Rodney," he said quietly enough that the others couldn't hear, "you also said you couldn't lift that door, remember? And you said you couldn't get that spaceship to work in time. There have been a lot of things you couldn't do, and you've managed to do every single one of them. You can do this too."

"But those were brain things! I can do brain things! This is a body thing, and right now, my body's just not capable—"

"Rodney," Sheppard said again, tone soothing. "You can do this."

Rodney opened his mouth to argue, but gave up. If Sheppard thought he could do it, maybe he just could. At least he had to try. He couldn't let him down again, ever. Not after Doranda. "Ok," he finally said. "I can do this." He still wasn't convinced, but what other choice did he have?

Sheppard smiled and turned the light back on the boulder. "Take off your pack, though," he said. "I'll throw it to you once we're across."

Rodney did as he was told, then went back to standing at the edge of the pit. Really, it would have been possible if he weren't so tired and sore. It was less than two meters to the center of the rock. And once he got there, Ronon could help him on the other leap. Ronon would have to help him, because Sheppard's faith aside, he knew he wasn't going to be able to leap up that far.

"Rodney," Sheppard prompted when he gave no indication he would ever jump.

"Fine, fine, I'm going," he said with irritation, trying to cover his nervousness. Taking one last deep breath, he leapt at the center of the rock.


	10. Doors

**Chapter 10: Doors **

Sheppard let out the breath he had been holding as Rodney hit the center of the rock, teetered for a moment, then stayed there. As much as he had been trying to convince Rodney otherwise—and himself while he was at it—he wasn't sure the exhausted scientist had enough stamina to land properly and keep his balance. He watched as Rodney stood for a moment, gauging the next leap. At least for this one, Ronon was standing by to catch him. He'd need it. He would be jumping _up _three feet, and that wasn't going to be possible unaided. In fact, Sheppard would need help with that as well. The electrocution had left him tired and sore, and when he had fallen the second time he had wrenched his knee. Not to mention all the bruises. When they got home, he was planning on sleeping for a week.

His attention was drawn back to Rodney as he jumped. It wasn't much, and it wasn't graceful, but it was enough to bring him within reach of Ronon, who caught him with a grunt. For a moment, Sheppard was afraid they'd both overbalance and fall, but then Ronon managed to recover, and they both half-fell, half-sat next to the pit.

Teyla stepped forward after a moment. "Colonel, I can catch the pack and the light," she said.

He hoisted the pack and tossed it across to her, followed by the flashlight. She trained the light on the boulder, and in the shadows he could see Rodney move to get out of the way and Ronon stand ready to catch him. It was time, he supposed, to put his money where his mouth was. And if he fell after Rodney had been successful, he knew he would never live it down. Taking a deep breath, he jumped, feeling is knee twinge as he did so.

Landing on the rock was agony. He came down hard on both legs, and his knee gave out completely. His legs buckled and he felt himself start to slide, but managed to correct at the last moment. He ended up half on his side sprawled across the rock. Altogether not a dignified position, he decided.

"Sheppard, you ok?" called Rodney worriedly.

He took a moment more to catch his breath before responding weakly, "I'm good. Just fell wrong."

"Little bit more of the other, isn't it?" Rodney asked sarcastically. Damn. Busted.

Sheppard chose to ignore his friend's concern and the pain in his knee, and struggled to his feet. "Ready, Ronon?" he asked to the man standing five feet away and three feet up. God, he looked huge from this angle.

"Any time you are," the runner returned.

Sheppard crouched to jump, and had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out as his knee spasmed. God, was this what Teyla had to put up with when she jumped? He felt a new wash of guilt for nearly crushing her foot with a rock earlier. He straightened back up. This wasn't going to work. If he tried to jump, his leg was going to buckle. It wasn't _that _far to fall, but he would prefer to avoid wedging himself between a rock and a hard place if he could help it.

"What is wrong?" Teyla asked, seeing that he wasn't jumping.

"Gimme a minute," he muttered, rubbing his knee. He would just have to jump one-legged.

"Maybe if you lowered yourself down," Rodney suggested, "and then reached up, we could reach you and hoist you up."

Sheppard looked down, and Teyla obligingly moved the light. Immediately they saw why that plan wouldn't work. The boulder didn't rest against the wall of the pit here, there was a gap of over a foot. So that made it a drop of not eight feet, but more like thirteen. Plus, that also meant that the jump up had been farther than he had thought. His respect for Ronon increased. He had made that jump look easy.

"Never mind," Rodney commented, looking at the pit.

"I can do this," Sheppard muttered, getting ready to jump again. Rodney, seeing what he was thinking, scrambled back out of the way. Teyla shifted the light. Not giving himself any more time to think about how this wouldn't work, he bit down on the pain, bunched his legs, and jumped as hard as he could.

With a sick feeling, he realized it wasn't going to be good enough. He went far enough, but not high enough. His hands missed Ronon's outstretched ones. He frantically grabbed at the lip of the pit, but missed that too. He waited for the bone-numbing crunch of hitting the bottom. He felt his stomach hit something, knocking the air out of his lungs, but it wasn't the bottom of the pit. It was the side of it. He felt strong hands clamped onto the back of his flak vest hauling him up. Moments later they all sat panting at the edge of the pit.

"Thank god you had that fastened," Rodney said finally, voice sounding strained.

Sheppard tried to turn over so he was facing up, but the hands were still clamped onto his vest. Realizing this too, Ronon hastily let go and backed off a bit. Sheppard flipped over and propped himself up on his arms, still breathing hard. "Thanks, Ronon," he managed.

"I would ask how you are," Rodney said, eyeing him, "but you wouldn't be honest with me anyway. You really hurt your leg, didn't you?"

Sheppard nodded, giving up. "Wrenched knee, I think. I can walk on it fine. But apparently I can't jump on it worth a damn."

"You made it, and that is what matters," Teyla told him. He gave her a tired smile, which she returned.

Sheppard wanted to stay like that, lying on the floor. But he didn't have the luxury. He had to get his team out of here, before their minor injuries finally added up to major injuries. With a grunt he pushed himself up, staggering slightly as he put too much weight on his knee. Ronon reached out a steadying arm, but he waved him away. He glanced over at Rodney, who was still half-sitting, half-lying on the floor. Even in the nearly non-existent light, he looked exhausted. "How ya doin', McKay?"

Rodney turned his face at the voice. "Oh, I'm wonderful." He struggled to his feet, waving away Sheppard's offered hand. "Just wonderful. I don't think I have a muscle in my body that doesn't hurt. And I'm really starting to need an aspirin."

Sheppard felt around in his vest until he found a packet of aspirin, which he held out, along with a power bar. Rodney took them gleefully, not trying to hide it at all. "Oh, food! You're right, that's probably a lot of this…this…" he faltered and covered by swallowing a handful of aspirin.

"Faintness?" Sheppard supplied teasingly.

"I do not faint, I pass out," Rodney grumbled.

"From manly hunger. Yes, I know." Sheppard was starting to feel slightly better. Bantering with Rodney tended to have that effect.

"Are we ready?" Teyla asked, bringing them back to the matter at hand. She was a few steps down the tunnel, still carrying the flashlight.

"Careful," Sheppard cautioned.

She nodded and started forward, Ronon close behind. Sheppard walked a half-step behind Rodney. He wanted to be next to him, but he also knew someone had to cover their six. Not that a P-90 without its flashlight would be very effective in the dark, against boulders. But it was the principle of the thing.

They proceeded slowly, partly because it was dark, and partly because they were all exhausted. Of all of them, Ronon seemed to be doing the best, but Sheppard noticed that even he keep rubbing contemplatively at his ribs. Teyla's limp was getting worse, as was Sheppard's own. And Rodney, although he didn't seem to have anything specifically wrong with him, looked something like the walking dead. Hopefully, the food and painkillers would help.

The rest of the way to the juncture with the main tunnel was uneventful. They probably passed over several more traps, but thankfully the loss of power rendered them harmless. There were no more pits. They settled into a silence, broken only by their breathing. Sheppard tried to get Rodney to expound about something a few times, mostly just to hear someone talking, but he didn't seem interested, replying to questions in as few words as possible.

Teyla and Ronon stopped abruptly, causing Rodney to walk into the runner's back. He stopped, backed off, and blinked. "What's going on?"

Sheppard walked around his teammates to see what the problem was. Oh. A door.

"Oh god, not another one," Rodney said in annoyance. "I suppose this means I'll have to climb into the ceiling and get electrocuted again."

"Wouldn't work. No bare wires," Sheppard pointed out as Teyla pointed the light at the ceiling.

"What the hell is _wrong _with this place?" Rodney demanded angrily. "I mean, obviously the Ancients built it. We were able to activate it with the gene. And it's full of traps that are trying to kill us! Why!" He stopped, breathing heavily.

"It does not seem to make sense," Teyla agreed, shining the light around the door.

"Hey, wait, go back!" Rodney exclaimed. When Teyla didn't respond immediately he grabbed the flashlight and pointed it at a particular portion of wall. Sheppard saw it now too: an access panel. Thank god. It was flush with the wall and the same color, so it was all but invisible.

Rodney handed Teyla the light back. "Hold this on the panel," he instructed, digging things out of his pockets. He put a screwdriver into the crack around the panel, and momentarily it came off with a pop, revealing a normal-looking array of crystals. "Oh, yes," he breathed.

Sheppard grinned. Now they were getting somewhere. "Can you access it without power?" he asked.

Rodney spared him a patronizing glance before he started moving crystals. "I can't do anything fancy, but I can force the door. We've done this in Atlantis before, after all."

"Yes, but those doors don't come out of the ceiling," Sheppard pointed out.

Rodney gave him a startled look, then looked at the door. "Ah. Yes. That could be a problem. Or not." He looked at Ronon. "Feeling strong today?"

Ronon grinned, white teeth flashing in the dim light. "I feel strong every day."

"Good. When I tell you, try to lift the door. Just be ready to get clear if it tries to fall on you."

"Is this a good idea?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney gave him a look. "Of course not. And if you have a better one, I'm all ears." He waited a moment. "Ah, I thought not. Stand by, Ronon."

He fiddled with some crystals. "Ok, go!"

With a grunt, Ronon pulled up on the door. As he lifted, they were blinded by a sudden light. Apparently the power was still on in the main tunnel. Ronon got the door about two feet up, when he let out a yell and let go. It came crashing back down, plunging them into darkness.

After a moment Rodney cleared his throat. "Ronon? You ok?"

Ronon grunted something affirmative.

"What the hell was that?" Sheppard demanded.

"Well," Rodney said slowly. "There's no power to this control panel, but apparently the door is on a different circuit, which is a completely moronic design. So as soon as we tried to lift the door, it resisted. The good news is, we should be able to keep lifting it like that indefinitely."

"This is good news how, exactly?" Sheppard wanted to know.

Rodney shrugged. "Well, if someone can get under, they can work the control on the other side of the door, which should have power."

"And that someone has to be you?" Sheppard guessed.

"Well, obviously. Who else can pick the ancient's locks?" Rodney asked with some of his usual arrogance.

"But you don't know what's on the other side of the door. It could be dangerous." Sheppard pointed out.

"That's a good bet, Colonel," Rodney admitted. "But again, what choice do we have?"

"I could go," Sheppard offered. "I can probably figure it out."

"What, because you're going to be so much better at defending yourself against falling rocks and god knows what else than I am?" Rodney demanded. "No, as much as I would like to let you be the one to walk into probable disfigurement and danger, it makes much more sense if I go."

"I can accompany him, and provide…cover," Teyla suggested.

"I can do that," Sheppard said.

"Actually, we shouldn't both be on the same side of the door," Rodney told him. "If it doesn't work from my side, you should be here to try to do something from this side."

Sheppard nodded. That made sense. He went to peer over Rodney's shoulder. "Ok, what do I do to open it?"

Rodney pointed out the crystal sequence, then went to stand next to the door. "Remember," he told Teyla, "We'll only have a second. Go quickly."

"And one at a time," Sheppard put in. "More of a chance of clearing the doorway."

"I will go first," Teyla said.

Sheppard nodded. "Ready?" he asked Ronon, who grunted. He fiddled with the crystals. "Now!"

Ronon lifted the door again. As soon as it was high enough, Teyla rolled through, disappearing into the light just as the heavy door crashed down again.

Sheppard hit his radio. "Teyla, you get through ok? Teyla?" he asked again, when no reply was forthcoming.

"Shielding," Rodney reminded him wearily from his position near the floor. _Oh, right, _Sheppard thought. He kept forgetting that.

"Ready?" Sheppard asked. Rodney nodded, and he jimmied the crystals again. Ronon lifted, and Rodney ducked through. Slower than Teyla had. The door came crashing down, and as it hit the stone floor of the tunnel, Sheppard heard a pain-filled scream.

oOo

A/N: and I bet you thought the last few cliffhangers were bad... (grins evilly)


	11. Not Quite Out of the Woods Yet

A/N: Because this chapter is so short, I'm going to give you two today.

oOo

**  
**

**Chapter 11**: **Not Quite Out of the Woods **

Rodney had mostly cleared the door when it crashed down, hitting his leg. He let out an involuntary scream as it crushed the flesh of his calf. With another yell, he pulled his leg free. God, it hurt like a mother!

He slumped against the wall, pain filling his senses. When it died down enough he could think, he heard Teyla saying his name. He opened his eyes to see her kneeling next to him, clearly worried. "I'm…ok," he managed to pant.

To his surprise, Teyla smiled. "I am beginning to think that 'ok' and 'fine' must hold a different meaning for you and the Colonel than for me," she said.

Rodney smiled in spite of himself. "Oh, and you and Ronon are so much better about _your_ pain?" he retorted, clutching at his leg.

Teyla gently removed his fingers and rolled up the slightly torn (but not bloody, he noticed) pant leg. He cringed as she palpitated the area gently. "It is not bad," she said finally. "You will have deep bruising, but nothing is broken."

Rodney finally had the courage to look. On the outside of his leg, from just below the knee to just above the ankle, a band of skin was horribly discolored. It was the biggest blood blister he had ever seen. He swallowed, feeling nauseous. But she was right; it wasn't broken. Even the skin wasn't. He pushed the pant leg back down to hide it. "Right then," he said briskly. "Let's see about getting out the others, shall we?"

Teyla nodded and helped him stand. He almost waved her away, but when he put weight on his leg it nearly buckled, and he found himself leaning into her for support. After a moment, he hobbled over to the control panel by the door. This one was much more obvious, due to the fact that they had light. He stood looking at it for a moment, wishing he had his scanner.

"What is wrong?" Teyla asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering if it's booby-trapped," he said.

"Oh," she said, realization dawning. "With power in this section, we have to once again worry about traps." She drew her gun and faced down the hallway.

Rodney seriously doubted that whatever would come at them would be deterred by a handgun, but he figured it was all good as long as it gave her some confidence. He turned back to the control panel. Let's see…how could it be trapped. Well, let's see: electric shock, poison…those were the direct ones. More subtle would be something like releasing snakes from the ceiling. Could be anything. Giving up, he pried off the cover, looking up nervously when that action didn't cause anything to jump out at him.

Satisfied that nothing was going to fall on him, either, he turned back to the panel. To his surprise, there weren't any crystals. It looked like…wires. Like ordinary, non-Ancient wiring. That didn't make any sense. The Ancients didn't _use _wiring like this. Perplexed, he stared at it.

"What is wrong?" Teyla asked from beside him.

Rodney shrugged. "I don't know, exactly. But this panel's not an Ancient design."

"Can you make it work anyway?" Teyla asked.

"Of course I can!" Rodney snapped, offended. "Piece of cake." To prove his point he switched the two most likely wires, and the door obligingly began to rise.

As soon as the door was up enough to allow a person through, Sheppard was through, rolling to a crouch, obviously still blinded by the light on this side. "Rodney!" he yelled.

Rodney sank down and grabbed him by the shoulders. "We're fine! We're fine," he said, sensing his friend's understandable fear. He must have heard the shout. Dammit. "Sorry to scare you."

Sheppard blinked at the light. "What the hell happened?"

Rodney grimaced. "Caught my leg a little. Don't worry. Nothing's broken."

"Let me see."

Rodney pulled away. "No. Later. I'm ok." At this last, he glanced at Teyla, who raised an eyebrow at him.

As he stood up he saw Ronon. The Satedan had come through more slowly, but with just as much concern. Damn. Now he really felt badly for scaring them. Rodney cleared his throat. "Well, shall we get back to the gate?"

Sheppard looked both ways down the tunnel, clearly disoriented. "Sure. That way, right?" he guessed, gesturing.

"Ah, that way, actually," Rodney said, pointing the other way. "About a kilometer, if I recall. And Colonel," he said, putting out an arm to stop Sheppard as he started to move. "Traps, remember?"

"I'll go first," Ronon said. "I can spot them."

Sheppard opened his mouth to argue, but Rodney stepped on his foot. "Good idea. But remember they might not all be triggered by the floor."

Ronon nodded and started off, eyes glued to the floor tiles. Rodney followed, limping, and pulling a limping Sheppard behind. Teyla took up the rear, also limping. God. Carson would be yelling at them for a week, at least. That is, assuming they ever got home.

"What the hell was that?" Sheppard hissed in his ear.

Rodney turned and blinked innocently. "You were going to argue that you should go first, am I correct?"

"Of course."

"Can _you _spot the floor traps?" Rodney continued, sensing victory.

Sheppard's gaze shifted away. "Well, not exactly."

"Then _that _is what that was," Rodney said triumphantly.

"Bastard," Sheppard muttered, but he didn't really look like he minded that much.

They walked slowly forward, following in Ronon's footsteps even though he hadn't indicated any suspicious-looking stones. Rodney looked around, trying to spot something the others missed. His eyes landed on the walls, which looked…odd, somehow. Like they had little circles in them, from about knee-height up.

"Well, _this _can't be good," Sheppard commented, following his gaze. Suddenly their eyes were drawn upwards to where a blue light had begun to flash in the ceiling above them. "Oh, shit!" Sheppard yelled, swiping Rodney's legs out from under him. "Get down!"

Rodney fell backwards, and so he had a beautiful view of the arrows that started to fire out of the circles in the walls. Sheppard had hit the floor next to him, possibly in time. He couldn't see Teyla where he was lying, but since he _would _be able to see if her had she remained standing, he took that as a good sign. Ronon, however, was slower to respond, and Rodney heard and saw several arrows smack sickeningly into him before he managed to hit the floor. Arrows continued to fly overhead for a few moments more, then stopped. Rodney was just contemplating if it was safe to check on Ronon, and Sheppard was just starting to struggle to his knees, when the stone block dropped from the ceiling.


	12. Arrow Ex Machina

**Chapter 12: Arrow ex Machina **

Sheppard didn't have time to do anything but fall to the floor again as the stone slab came crashing down at them. He heard Rodney scream, and had a sudden flash of understanding. First the walls, now the ceiling. If they managed to survive this, Rodney would never be able to be in an enclosed space smaller than, say, a football stadium. As Sheppard thought of this, he realized that the simple fact that he had time to think of it meant that once again, somehow, he wasn't dead. He tried to roll over, and found he couldn't. He could feel the stone on top of him, but it wasn't falling down any more. "Rodney?" he asked. "Ronon? Teyla?"

He could hear ragged breathing from Rodney's direction, but got no response. From the region of his feet, though, he heard Teyla. "I am here."

"What happened?"

"I…do not think these are normal arrows," she said by way of completely unhelpful explanation.

"Teyla…"

"I held one up to try to prop the block as it fell," she hastily explained. "And it has worked. It is supporting the weight."

Sheppard turned his head, but still couldn't see any of his friends. "Ronon? Rodney?" he tried again. Still no response. "Teyla? Can you see them?"

"I see Rodney," She confirmed. "He is breathing. I believe he is in…shock?"

"He's claustrophobic," Sheppard explained. "This is pretty much his worst nightmare. I guess it's good he's gone catatonic, though, and not thrashing around and hurting himself." He hoped he was right about it being a good thing. He also hoped it wasn't permanent. "Ronon?"

"I cannot see him."

"I'm…I'm here," came a heavy voice. Sheppard managed to turn his head, and finally caught sight of Ronon. He was lying on his back, and next to him was another arrow, also propping the stone up. No, not next to him…oh Jesus.

Sheppard inched forward, trying to get to the runner. He was hampered by the arrows scattered around them. No, not arrows, he saw, looking closer. More like metal crossbow bolts, about a foot and a half long. And very, very sturdy, apparently. He managed to get next to Ronon, where the bolt through his arm had caught the stone block.

Ronon's breathing came in ragged gasps. He turned his head slightly to look at Sheppard. "I'm beginning to see…why McKay hates small spaces," he said, mouth twisting.

"How bad?" Sheppard asked.

Ronon looked at the arrow through his arm. "This one? It's not so bad. Muscle damage. But that's nothing compared to when we have to get it out, huh?" He looked up at the stone again. "But there're two more."

Sheppard reached an arm across him, feeling gently. He found one bolt imbedded in the runner's leg, the other in his side. "Dammit," he said softly.

Ronon coughed and winced. "Now what?" he asked.

Sheppard wished he had a good answer. He and Teyla could probably inch their way out of here, but there was no way they could do it dragging Rodney, and Ronon was stuck. They would have to cut through inches of muscle to get the arrow free, and it would most likely result in permanent damage. Their only hope was to get out and find a way to lift the block from the outside.

He heard a sudden thrashing and a grunt of pain from Teyla, who had been inching over to Rodney. The scientist had suddenly come back to life, and was pushing at the stone block, screaming incoherent things. Teyla was trying to calm him, but it wasn't working.

"Rodney! Rodney!" Sheppard called, but that didn't work, either. "Teyla, hit him!"

"What?" she panted.

"I _said, _hit him!" Sheppard yelled back. His order was acknowledged by the sound of a hand hitting flesh. It didn't help, though. Rodney's frenzy had actually started propelling him forward, though, which gave Sheppard another idea. "Teyla, can you grab his feet and kind of…steer him out of here?"

Rodney was thrashing around violently, hitting his head and arms against the stone. But with Teyla holding his feet, she managed to get him more or less pointed the way they needed to go. Sheppard turned to Ronon. "We'll get this thing off. I promise." Ronon nodded. Swallowing hard, Sheppard inched back towards Rodney. He hated the feeling that he was leaving Ronon behind. But there was no way to move him with the block there. No way. And they wouldn't go far. If he couldn't calm Rodney down and get him to fix this, he'd just crawl back under here and figure something else out.

He grabbed Rodney's other leg, and together they managed to get the scientist to propel himself out from under the block. He continued to thrash and scream incoherently, pushing himself up against a wall in the process. Sheppard went back to plan A: hitting him.

On the third slap, Rodney stiffened and stopped thrashing. He kept moaning, though, rolling his head from side to side, eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling. Sheppard tried hitting him again.

Rodney relaxed against him and closed his eyes, drawing shuddering breaths. His face was white as a sheet. Sheppard found his pulse: it was horribly fast. He didn't want to think about his blood pressure at the moment.

Sheppard sat up against the wall, pulling Rodney up with him. Rodney was almost completely limp, and Sheppard had to prop the man against his shoulder, supporting him with one arm. Teyla sat down on Rodney's other side, and held a canteen to his lips.

Rodney took a drink, opening his eyes a little bit to look at her. When she removed the canteen, he took a shuddering breath, and whispered, "Sorry."

Sheppard gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "No need for that. I actually think you've been handling yourself pretty well, considering."

Rodney rolled his head to regard Sheppard. "You must have hit your head. How is a panic attack 'handling myself well?'"

"Well, you're not panicked now, are you?" Sheppard pointed out.

"Not…as much," Rodney admitted, rubbing a hand over his eyes. Suddenly he sat upright, panicking again, but for a different reason. "Ronon!" He grabbed Sheppard's shoulders. "He was hit!"

"I know," Sheppard said, returning the shoulder grip and staring into wide and panicky blue eyes. "And he's trapped under there. You have to get him out."

Rodney turned back to the block. "He's under there? Oh god," he moaned.

"Don't worry, he's ok under there," Sheppard lied, tightening his grip. "But we have to get him out. YOU have to get him out!"

"Me? How?"

"Get the block to lift back up."

Rodney looked at him. "How the hell…?" He broke off and swallowed, visibly getting a grip on himself. "Right. Get the block to lift."

Sheppard patted him on the shoulder. "Good." He stood up and helped Rodney to his feet.

"I am going back under there," Teyla said. "Ronon should not be alone."

Sheppard opened his mouth to argue when Ronon beat him to it. "You'll do no such fool thing," he called, voice sounding faint.

"But…" Teyla looked lost, scared. It was disconcerting.

"Stay out there and help Doctor McKay," Ronon said, sounding slightly louder. "I'm good."

"He can't possibly be 'good,'" Rodney said as he gingerly poked around the wall. "He got hit at least three times."

"I know," Sheppard said from beside him. "But two of them aren't bad."

Rodney stopped poking the wall and looked at him. "And the third?"

"Get him out, and we'll see."

Rodney nodded grimly, then looked at the ceiling. "Did you see that blue light before?" he asked.

Sheppard nodded, then realized Rodney couldn't see him do it, as his eyes were still fixed on the ceiling. "Yeah."

"I think there are sensors in the ceiling," Rodney said. "This time our presence triggered the traps, not a stone."

"So?" Sheppard really didn't care how the traps had been triggered.

"So," Rodney said, "There could be a reset of some sort in the ceiling as well. It would make sense that they would have one."

"And since there are arrows in the walls…" Sheppard said, catching on.

"Exactly," Rodney said, with a hint of the McKay fire. "Not where the s…stone block was…" he trembled at that thought, but shook himself and went on, "obviously. But maybe on each side of it?"

He peered up, squinting against the lights. "Ah!"

"Find it?" Sheppard asked, daring to hope.

"I think so. Right there, next to where the block was. I can't reach it from here, though."

"I can lift you up again," Sheppard offered. "'Cause I really don't think it would be a good idea to stand on the stone block."

Rodney glanced at the block and shuddered visibly. "No, not good at all. But the ceiling's not fallen down at all here. That's over three meters up. I'd have to actually stand on your shoulders in order to reach."

"How's your balance?" Sheppard asked dubiously.

"How's your knee?" Rodney returned. Dammit, Sheppard had forgotten about that. He wouldn't be able to support that much weight.

"Perhaps I could do it?" Teyla suggested. "No offense, but I am lighter."

"Probably takes the ATA gene," Rodney said.

"But is it not worth a try?" she argued. "I believe I could balance. Colonel?"

Sheppard nodded wearily. He could probably support her. It was worth a try. He went to stand under where Rodney had indicated. "Help her up, Rodney."

Rodney made a foothold with his hands, and Teyla sprang up onto Sheppard's shoulders. She teetered precariously, but both he and Rodney reached up and grabbed her legs to steady her. She reached up towards the ceiling. "What do I do, Rodney?"

"What exactly do you see?"

"I see a button."

Rodney and Sheppard made eye contact. It couldn't possibly be that easy. It had to be a trap. "What choice do we have?" Rodney whispered just as Sheppard thought it. "Push it, Teyla," he said, then to Sheppard, "be ready to run like hell if this doesn't work."

There was a small click as Teyla pushed the button, and then something began to lower from the ceiling. It was some sort of hoist apparatus, apparently, because it hooked into grooves on top of the stone block, and began lifting it. Rodney let out a little cheer. Sheppard smiled. It was actually working!

He nearly overbalanced as Teyla leapt off him and landed on the floor, staggering as she hit her ankle wrong. As the block lifted she ducked under it. After a moment's hesitation, Sheppard followed her. They rushed to Ronon, who was staring blearily at the block lifting over his head. Between them they wrestled him up and got him out from under it, just in case the hoist didn't hold. They lowered him to the ground next to Rodney, who was staring at them, eyes unreadable.

Sheppard felt a momentary annoyance that McKay hadn't helped them get Ronon out, then realized how unfounded that was. It was a miracle Rodney could even look at the stone block. It would be unreasonable to expect him to be able to make himself go back under it. From the look on Rodney's face, though, he had gone through the same reasoning process, and come to a different conclusion. Man. Heightmeyer would get months of material out of this. Poor Rodney.

He turned his attention back to Ronon, who was lying weakly on the floor. He had lost a lot of blood. With relief, though, Sheppard saw that the side wound wasn't nearly as bad as it had looked. The arrow had almost missed entirely, and only seemed to be embedded in skin and abdominal muscles. "We must remove the arrows," Teyla was saying.

Sheppard nodded. "Rodney." No response. "McKay!"

"Present," Rodney muttered, apparently reappearing from light-years away.

"Get all the medical equipment we have together," Sheppard ordered. "I've a feeling we'll need it." Between him and Teyla, they got the arrows out and the wounds dressed. Ronon was a phenomenally stoic patient, although Sheppard had expected this. After all, when they had first met him he had insisted on surgery with no anesthetic, while he was sitting up and holding a weapon. The man was a machine. They had just enough bandages to wrap the wounds, although if the bleeding didn't stop they'd have no way to redress them. He fervently hoped the bleeding didn't persist, and that no one else got hurt. Well, any more than they already were.

Ronon lay propped against a wall, pale and sweating. He appeared to be in shock, but hopefully it wasn't bad. They still had to get out of here. "Can you walk?" Sheppard asked gently.

Ronon looked up at him, eyes slightly glazed. "I survived the Wraith for seven years," he mumbled. "This is nothing." And he did manage to stand, with a lot of assistance from Sheppard and Teyla. Sheppard tentatively let go, leaving only Teyla to support Ronon. When they didn't immediately topple, he considered it good enough.

He went over to where Rodney was putting the last of their supplies back in his pack. "Rodney?" he asked gently.

Rodney turned to face him. "I'm ok," he said, answering the unasked question. "I'll be more ok when we're out of this godforsaken dungeon, but I'll survive."

Sheppard clapped him on the shoulder. "Good. And I meant it about how I think you're doing good."

Rodney snorted. "Right. I don't see anyone else falling apart when they get stone blocks dropped on their heads!"

"You _do_ know what the definition of a phobia is, don't you McKay?" Sheppard asked snidely. He was getting tired of Rodney beating himself up over this.

"Yes, yes, irrational fear, can't control it, yadda, yadda, yadda. I get it. Can we just get out of here?" Rodney snapped, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

Well, Sheppard couldn't blame him. He didn't really want to talk about it, either.


	13. The Pits

**Chapter 13: The Pits **

Sheppard and Rodney took the lead again, with Teyla and Ronon following behind. By unspoken agreement, Sheppard watched the ground, while McKay watched the ceiling. They both kept uneasy watch on the walls. Unlike the side tunnel, this one wasn't exactly straight, curving first right, then left, just enough to block their view of what was in front of them. It was very frustrating. Sheppard was really starting to hate this place. Not that he had ever liked it. But the twists and turns were just the icing on the cake.

"Stop," McKay said suddenly, throwing out an arm. Behind them, Teyla and Ronon stopped as well. Sheppard followed Rodney's gaze to the ceiling. "Do you see it?" Rodney asked.

"No," Sheppard admitted. It was hard to see anything beyond the lights. They weren't terribly bright, but it was still hard to stare into them. No, wait…what was that? It looked like a small square of glass in the ceiling, ahead of them. "Good eyes, McKay," he said in admiration.

"Not really. I just took a really good look at the last one," Rodney said, waving a hand. "I'll bet you it triggers as we walk under it."

"So we don't walk under it." Sheppard looked back up at it, then around the corridor. "Triggers what, though, is the question."

"And how do we disarm it, is a better question," Rodney pointed out.

They searched gingerly around the room until Teyla made a little exclamation of discovery. Sheppard looked where she was pointing at the floor. Oh. The seam between the rocks was a little deeper alone the middle of the corridor. Trap door. "How the hell are we going to get past this?" he muttered in irritation.

"Can we go around it?" Ronon asked, still leaning heavily on Teyla.

Rodney poked gingerly at the edge of the room. "Doubt it," he said. "Looks like the trapdoor goes right to the edge of the hallway."

"God, it never ends, does it?" Sheppard demanded in irritation. "I tell you, after this I'm pretty lukewarm on the whole Ancients-are-genius thing."

"Well, at the very least I no longer subscribe to the Benevolent Ancients Theory," Rodney agreed. "What possible purpose could this serve?"

"It is obviously to keep out intruders," Teyla said.

"Yeah, intruders with the ATA gene, though," Sheppard pointed out. "Which, ten thousand years ago, would be the Ancients. And yet, THEY built it!"

"I wonder…" Rodney mused, looking up at the ceiling. He snapped his fingers rapidly several times. "Sheppard: when that light glowed, who was passing under it?"

"We were," Sheppard said slowly.

"And Ronon already had. It didn't trigger for him!"

Sheppard narrowed his eyes. He saw where Rodney was going, but it didn't make sense. "What if there was just a delay, and it was actually tripped by Ronon?" he asked. That seemed just as reasonable.

"Only one way to find out," Ronon pointed out, shaking off Teyla and staggering forward.

Both Sheppard and Rodney caught him before he could pass under the sensor. "Are you _crazy_?" Rodney demanded, voice a half-octave too high. "What if I'm wrong, nitwit?"

Ronon gave him a look. "And when was the last time that happened?"

Rodney sputtered as Sheppard grinned. "But…I was just guessing, and it was shaky guesswork!"

"So let's make it less shaky," Ronon said, trying to walk forward again.

"Stop, Ronon. That's an order," Sheppard said. This was crazy. McKay had a point, and he might be right, but Ronon was being a complete idiot to try and test it this way. He gave the runner one last glare before letting him go. He figured if anyone would obey an order, it was Ronon.

"So we need to disable the sensor somehow," Rodney was saying. He also had let go of Ronon, who stood broodingly ignoring them.

"Yes, but how?" Sheppard asked, returning his gaze to the ceiling.

Rodney began rummaging through his pack. His search didn't look like a rummage for a particular object, however, so much as grasping at straws. "There's got to be something…" he muttered.

"Colonel, stop him!" Teyla shouted suddenly. Sheppard whirled to see Ronon halfway across the trapdoor, walking directly under the sensor. Before he could stop her, Teyla had run past him to stand next to Ronon.

Sheppard started forward automatically, when a hand on his elbow stopped him. He turned to look at Rodney, who was staring at the pair in front of them. "They're fine," he breathed. "Look."

Rodney was right. They were both standing under the sensor, and it wasn't activating. Well, wasn't that interesting. "The better Ancient trap," Sheppard breathed. He looked at Rodney.

Rodney looked back. "It is, isn't it? This place uses Ancient technology, but it can be used by non-Ancients. THAT'S why there was a 'reset' button that Teyla could use!"

"So what about the door, though?" Sheppard asked. "That was standard Ancient technology."

"I thought so, too," Rodney said slowly, "but now I'm not so sure. Maybe it only looked like it, or maybe it was part of a trap that was malfunctioning. On the other side it was ordinary wiring. No crystals. I didn't get it then, but it makes sense now."

"So basically," Sheppard said, looking at Ronon and Teyla, who were now across the pit, "They're perfectly safe, as long as they stay away from us."

Rodney nodded glumly. "You know, this is the first time in my life that I've actually regretted getting the gene therapy."

Sheppard nudged him affectionately. "What about when you thought you'd starve to death wearing that shield?"

Rodney made a face. "I still didn't regret the gene, I just regretted the shield."

"So now what?" Ronon called to them from across the trapdoor.

Sheppard turned to Rodney, who looked back at him. "Yes, now what?"

Rodney looked back up at the ceiling. "We still need to disable the sensor."

"Meanwhile, maybe they should go on ahead and let Atlantis know what happened to us," Sheppard said. He hated splitting up, but it seemed like the safest choice for Ronon and Teyla, and they should get medical help as soon as possible, especially Ronon.

"I don't know," Rodney argued. "We've already seen that some of these traps don't work properly. It may not be completely safe for them either."

"That's true," Sheppard allowed, "but they're still safer without us." He said the last grimly. He hated that. He had never been a liability to the team before, especially not because of his genes.

"This really bothers you, doesn't it?" Rodney asked him.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Sheppard shot back.

"Of course, but I'm not the team leader," Rodney said, unruffled. "It's got to bother you more."

Sheppard took a deep breath, deciding it wasn't the right time to try to pull the shreds of his dignity back together by arguing about it. "Teyla, Ronon," he called.

"Colonel?"

"You two need to get back to the gate and Atlantis. Apparently you can pass safely past the traps. You can send back help—just make sure no one with the ATA gene comes. Make sure they bring rope."

"We cannot leave you here!" Teyla exclaimed, horrified.

"Teyla," Sheppard said reasonably, "we're pretty much stuck here. You're going to be much more help if you send back help. And Ronon needs a doctor, soon."

"I'm fine," Ronon protested weakly, but there wasn't much force behind it. Teyla looked at him and apparently saw Sheppard's point. "Very well. We will send back help as soon as possible." With that, they left, disappearing around a corner.

"Pretty much stuck here?" Rodney said as soon as they were gone. "Oh ye of little faith."

"So you've got a way to disable the sensor, then?" Sheppard challenged.

Rodney's face fell. "Well, not exactly. Give me a minute!" He paced back and forth, looking at the floor. "Hmm," he said finally, stopping.

"Hmm?" Sheppard prompted. 'Hmm' could be good.

"This way, Colonel," Rodney beckoned. Sheppard followed him a few paces, stopping when he stopped. "There, that's far enough."

"What's this about?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm going to try something, and I didn't want you standing on the trapdoor when I did," Rodney explained, picking a rock up off the floor.

"That's reasonable," Sheppard said.

"Glad you think so. How's your aim?" Rodney handed him the rock.

"Good enough for this." Sheppard said, and threw the rock at the sensor. It hit with a satisfying impact, shattering. With a horrible grating sound, the doors fell away, revealing a deep pit. "Was that…supposed to happen?"

Rodney shrugged. "I wasn't sure, actually. But we disabled the sensor."

Sheppard grimaced as they both peered into the pit. "I suppose…"

"Are those…spikes?" Rodney asked, swallowing.

Sheppard was about to reply in the affirmative when his radio crackled to life. "Colonel, please respond!" came Teyla's worried voice.

"We're here. We're fine. Just testing a theory." Sheppard said.

"That is…good, then," she said. "Please try to test them in a less worrisome manner in the future."

"What have you got?" Sheppard asked, glad they could at least communicate by radio.

"Nothing so far. We will keep you informed. Teyla out."

He turned back to Rodney, who had inched over to the side of the pit. "McKay, what are you doing?"

"Well," Rodney said, pointing, "See how the doors are pretty thick? I was thinking we could use the hinge side as a sort of ledge to walk along."

Sheppard looked where he was pointing. They were indeed thick: nearly six inches. So McKay was suggesting walking twenty or thirty feet along a six-inch ledge, which could move at any moment, and with a face full of spikes as the reward for failure. "Ah, not so sure that's a good idea," he said.

Rodney gave him a look. "Of _course _it's not a good idea! Do you have a better one?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Sheppard said, pleased at the startled look this got him from McKay. "We wait for help to arrive."

Rodney sagged. "Yes, I can see that. Less chance of death by spikes. I just really, really want to get out of here." He sat heavily on the floor. "I mean, I really, really do."

Sheppard sat next to him. "I don't blame you. So do I."

"Rodney," Teyla voice broke in. "Do you read?"

"I'm here," he responded tiredly. "What is it?"

"We have encountered a closed door. We do not know how to get it to open."

"What's it look like?" Rodney said, perking up. It was amazing how his whole face lit up when he was given a scientific puzzle to solve.

"It is like the other doors. It comes down from the ceiling. We do not see any panels, nor anything on the ceiling that could be used to raise it."

"No panel? Are you sure?"

"I do not see anything that does not look like wall. Ronon is testing the wall to see if anything does not sound like wall."

"And there's nothing on the ceiling?" Rodney frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Their other traps seem to have a reset switch. Teyla, do you still have the flashlight?"

"Yes, Rodney. I have tried using that, but all I see is the trigger panel. The one that glows blue."

"Is it glowing blue right now?"

"No. It is dark."

"That's got to be it. Can you get up to it?"

"No," Teyla said softly. "Ronon cannot lift me."

Rodney covered the mouthpiece of his radio. "We need to help them," he told Sheppard.

"By walking across thirty feet of six-inch wide trapdoor?" Sheppard asked, covering his mic as well.

"Again, we're back to 'what choice do we have?'" Rodney said with a shrug.

"Teyla," Sheppard said, looking at McKay, "We're on our way. Just sit tight."

"But you are stuck on the other side of the pit," she said, sounding confused. "How will you cross?"

"Rodney found a way," Sheppard said. He broke the connection. "You sure you wanna do this?" In truth, Rodney didn't look so good. He was pale, dirty, and bruised, with dark circles under his eyes. And his limp was getting worse. Sheppard was no better off, he realized. And now they were trying amazing feats of balance? Were they nuts?

"I'm not the one who nearly fell off the rock," Rodney said, giving him a tired smirk.

"Hey!" Sheppard protested.

"Besides," Rodney said, turning serious again, "A pit is big. I can handle big. It's small…not so good with small." He shuddered, and Sheppard was reminded once again of the walls-closing-in thing.

Sheppard stood up. "Here goes nothing."


	14. House of Horrors

**Chapter 14: house of horrors **

They teetered, they cursed, they edged along the wall, but to both their amazement, they made it across. Sheppard, who was first, waited for Rodney, then both men collapsed to the floor, panting—not from exertion, but from fear. "God," Sheppard managed. "I didn't think I had a problem with heights."

"Me either," Rodney said.

They stayed on the floor until they caught their breath, then Sheppard stood with a groan, trying to put weight on his knee. He reached down a hand to help Rodney, who winced as he too put weight on his injured leg. " Carson's never going to let us off-world again," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm not sure I'd blame him," Rodney said heavily. So much for lightening. They staggered together down the hallway. Teyla and Ronon weren't much farther on, just around the corner. Teyla looked up at their approach. Ronon, sitting slumped against a wall, didn't.

Sheppard went over to him and knelt, favoring his knee. "Ronon?"

The runner looked up at him, face pale. "I'm just…catching my breath."

Sheppard regarded him. He was obviously in a lot of pain, and he had lost a lot of blood. But his bandages hadn't bled through, so that was encouraging. Grimly, he turned back to the door.

Teyla was shining the light on the ceiling, showing Rodney the panel. "I think I see how this works," Rodney said. "Or how it would have to. Sheppard, can you lift Teyla up to take a look?"

Well, he would pretty much have to, wouldn't he? He just nodded, and with Rodney's help she was soon standing on his shoulders. "What am I looking for?" she asked.

"Feel for anything around the panel that might be a switch."

Teyla felt around, then exclaimed in surprise. "I have found something."

"Ah," Rodney said. "This would be them getting smarter. Newer design. Hide the reset switch. Flip it, Teyla."

She did as she was told, and Sheppard jumped as the door grated upward, nearly dislodging her. She bent and leapt off his shoulders, a feat that on a normal day would have been nothing to the Athosian. However, with her ankle and her exhaustion, she fell badly. Rodney tried to catch and support her, but the end result was both of them tumbling to the floor, Teyla slightly on top.

On a good day, Sheppard would have been able to keep from laughing. But his defenses were down, he was exhausted, and there was something comical about it. His only consolation was that Ronon was laughing too.

"I'm glad—oof, Teyla!—glad you find this so funny," Rodney growled as they tried to pick themselves up. "Laugh at others' pain. Very supportive."

Sheppard bent to help, trying to stop the laughter that was taking on a bit of a hysterical edge. "I'm…I'm sorry," he gasped. "Of course it's not funny." He pulled Teyla to her feet. She immediately went to help Ronon up as Sheppard extended his hand to Rodney.

Rodney took it, but didn't use it to lever himself up. Instead he put all his weight into it, and pulled Sheppard to the floor. "Now who's laughing?" he asked, struggling to his feet. He didn't offer Sheppard a hand. There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he turned to limp through the doorway. "Come on, fearless leader," he called over his shoulder. Sheppard struggled to his feet and followed. He nearly ran into Rodney, who had stopped just through the doorway. In a moment he saw why.

From here on, the traps had been sprung as far as they could see. There were spikes, arrows, and other various pieces of nastiness. There was also a lot of blood. "Oh no," Rodney breathed.

"Yeah," Sheppard said grimly. He went over to a wall of spikes sticking halfway across the corridor at thigh height and gingerly touched some of the blood. Sticky. It hadn't been here all that long. "Dammit, this has to be from our people!"

"Those power surges," Rodney said numbly, surveying the damage. "They must have sent a team to look for us."

"Dammit!" Sheppard swore again.

"Don't see any body parts," Ronon noted, "Just blood."

Sheppard shuddered at the image, but the runner was right. There was blood on the spike he had touched, and blood leading down the corridor and some on the walls (in handprints). It looked like someone had gotten spiked, and then gone back down the tunnel to the Stargate. So maybe nobody had actually been killed trying to get to them.

"I hate to sound morbid, but at least this makes it easier for us to get through," Rodney noted. Sheppard gave him a dirty look, but couldn't argue the logic.

They picked their way down the tunnel, bypassing the spent traps. They saw no signs of, as Ronon had put it, body parts. Just the blood. It looked to be from the same person, but it was so much blood. Sheppard just hoped they had gotten out in time. Whomever they were.

He was stopped as Rodney suddenly backpedaled into him. He caught the scientist and kept him from falling, felling the tension in his body as he did so. "Rodney?"

Rodney turned to face him, eyes haunted. "S…sorry." Sheppard looked past him. Oh. It was another stone block. No wonder.

He put a steadying hand on his elbow. "It's ok, we're on top of it this time," he said, pulling Rodney up to stand on it. Ronon and Teyla were already up and walking across. This one was flush with the floor. Sheppard wondered briefly who was underneath them, before he realized it wouldn't be completely down if anyone had been trapped. Good for that, anyway.

"I…know we're on top," Rodney managed. "It's just…" his voice trailed off and he shrugged helplessly.

"I'm going to have nightmares about this place myself," Sheppard said, giving Rodney's elbow a squeeze. Rodney looked at him with gratitude, then resolutely walked across the stone.

The rest of their trip to the Stargate was uneventful. Every trap was sprung, and they didn't encounter anything impassible, like a door or a pit. The blood was still there, a constant presence in Sheppard's brain that someone had been injured, possibly killed, trying to rescue them.

They rounded the last corner, and suddenly the Stargate was visible in front of them. "Oh, god, is that a sight for sore eyes!" Rodney exclaimed. Sheppard nearly laughed with relief, and he saw the sentiment reflected in the faces of his teammates…his friends. Rodney even had tears in his eyes.

They walked nervously to the gate, half-expecting it to be snatched from in front of them. But they got there, and nothing stopped them. Sheppard reached for the DHD, which was also covered with blood. Rodney put out a hand to stop him from touching it. "Wait."

"What?"

"You have the ATA gene," Rodney said. "It would be better not to tempt fate."

It went against every fiber of Sheppard's being to let someone else do something dangerous. It should be him. He didn't want to ask Teyla or Ronon to do it. He looked at Rodney to argue, but stopped. So far, Rodney had been pretty much right about everything they'd encountered here. If Rodney thought it was a bad idea to touch the DHD with an ATA gene, then Rodney was right. He took a deep breath. "Teyla? Want to do the honors?"

She nodded. Propping Ronon against Sheppard, she dialed. To everyone's infinite relief, the gate burst to life, and no traps were triggered. Sheppard hastily activated his GDO. Moments later, they were home.


	15. Diagnosis: Ow

A/N: Once again, due to the short nature of this chapter, and the fact that it kind of goes with the next one, I'm uploading them both today, bringing this fic to a close :)

oOo

**Chapter 15: Diagnosis: Ow **

"Incoming wormhole!" someone shouted.

Elizabeth ran to the edge of the balcony overlooking the Stargate, hoping, trying not to hope. "IDC?" She asked, attempting to keep her voice neutral. After what had happed to Lorne and his team, though, was there any way she could even expect _one _of Sheppard's people to be ok?

"Yes, ma'am," the tech replied. "It's Colonel Sheppard!"

"Let them in!" she exclaimed, beaming. If Sheppard was alive, then chances were his team was too. She practically ran down to meet them, calling Carson on the way. Even if they were all alive, she knew better than to think they were all ok. With this team, they never were all ok.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, four figures staggered through the gate. Her relief at seeing all four paled when she saw what shape they were in. Sheppard was supporting Ronon, who was paler than she had ever seen him. Rodney and Teyla was both sort of holding each other up. "Good god," she breathed. "John?" She almost asked if they were ok, but caught herself at the absurdity of asking that.

Sheppard looked up at her as he sort of slithered to the floor, trying to lower Ronon and not being able to keep himself up either. He looked exhausted. Bruised, and exhausted. "Hey, Elizabeth," he greeted with a small smile. "Didja miss us?"

She knelt down to his eye level. " Carson is on his way," she said, dodging a question for which he undoubtedly didn't expect an answer.

"Never thought I'd be glad to hear that," Rodney muttered. He and Teyla had also sat down on the floor, and were now propping each other up. They looked just as battered as Sheppard. She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

" Elizabeth?" Sheppard said, bringing her attention back to him, "We saw blood. Did…did anybody…?" he let the question hang, but she knew what he was asking.

"Nobody died, John. Lorne and his team got pretty badly beaten up, but they'll make a full recovery."

Sheppard relaxed. "Thank god."

They were interrupted from further conversation by the arrival of Carson and his team. He automatically headed for Rodney first. "No, Ronon," Rodney murmured, gesturing. Carson raised an eyebrow at this, but went where he was told.

"How you doing, lad?" he asked in what was probably the first time in Ronon's life he had been referred to as 'lad.'

"Been better," the runner admitted, and Elizabeth saw why Rodney had sent Carson over here. Ronon was heavily bandaged in at least three places. He had obviously gotten the worst of whatever had happened to them. She stood up and moved out of Carson's way. Any questions she had for the team could wait until they were taken care of.

Two hours later she was sitting across from Carson in his office. She still hadn't had a chance to debrief John, but she wanted to know what was wrong with them first. That, and Carson had pretty much told her she had to let them rest.

"So how are they?" She asked.

"Ach," Carson said, "that group gives me a migraine. I swear, not _once _can they come back from a mission without someone bloody beat up, poisoned, shot, stabbed, or broken!" The words were harsh, but the tone was fond. Most of Carson's closest friends happened to be on that team, after all.

"So…?" she prompted.

"Ronon was the worst," he said with a sigh. "Apparently he got hit by three arrows from an arrow trap, crushed against a tree by a boulder, and nearly crushed under a fallen stone block. So he's got blood loss, dehydration, bruised ribs, and a slight fever, and he was in shock when he first came in."

Elizabeth winced in sympathy. "But he's going to be alright?"

"Aye, he'll be fine. He's a tough one, our Ronon."

"That he is," Elizabeth agreed.

"Next up for injury is Rodney. He's got…let's see. He's got a long list. Severe bruising and pinching of a calf muscle where a door fell on him, deep tissue bruises on his shoulder, dehydration, low blood sugar, second-degree burns on his finders from when he was electrocuted, and apparently yesterday he had heatstroke."

Elizabeth sucked in a breath. "Oh, poor Rodney! It's amazing he's still breathing!"

"Aye. But he's a tough one too. I'm more worried about his mental state, frankly."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, nothing to him that didn't affect the others: small, dark tunnel, room with the walls closing in, and a stone block falling on them."

"Oh god," Elizabeth exclaimed, catching on. "But he's claustrophobic!"

"Aye," Carson said sadly. "Imagine how horrible it must have been for him when the walls really did start closing in."

"He's going to have to spend some serious time with Kate."

Carson rubbed his eyes. "That he is. In the meantime, I've opened up a few curtains in their part of the infirmary to make it seem bigger, and I've left the lights on. They all seem to appreciate that, actually."

Elizabeth nodded. That made sense. "And the others?"

"Teyla's also dehydrated, has a badly sprained ankle, and the same cuts and bruises as the others. She'll probably be the first to mend. Our Colonel, as you might expect, is a walking accident. He's also got the dehydration, bruises, and electrocution, a deep gash on his arm that Rodney informed me was 'self-inflicted,' and a badly wrenched knee. And then of course, all four of them are exhausted."

"I can see, in light of where they were, most of it," Elizabeth said, "but how'd Rodney and John get electrocuted?"

"Apparently they were playing with loose wires, but neither one seems to want to discuss it."

"Ok, fair enough. What did Rodney mean the cut on John's arm was self-inflicted?"

"Not sure, love. Something about shooting at gravel. They didn't want to talk about that one, either."

"Ah." There wasn't really much more to say at that point. "Can I see them?"

"Yes, love, but don't tire them. They all need rest right now."

Elizabeth stood. "Understood, Doctor. Thank you." With a final smile, she went to check on her people.


	16. All's Well that Ends Well

**Chapter 16: All's well that ends well **

Sheppard drifted. He wasn't exactly sleeping, but he wasn't all there, either. He was just enjoying the feeling of clean sheets, a warm blanket, and really good pain meds. That, and the fact that all his people would be ok. Even Lorne's people would be ok. Although from what Elizabeth had said, that would take a while. Lieutenant Reed had a crushed leg from the falling ceiling, Sergeant Smith had a broken arm, and Lorne had nearly bled out from a nasty leg wound that apparently had hit an artery. His was the blood they had seen.

It had almost been a successful rescue. They would have managed if the door hadn't come down, causing Lorne to back up into the spike trap, which was one of the ones sprung with a floor trigger. In fact, Atlantis had been in the process of assembling another team to go through when Sheppard had finally gotten his people home.

Elizabeth had told him what they'd done. Apparently with the activation of the firs trap, Lorne had seen the glowing trigger and realized it was keyed off his gene. He had known this because Smith, who lacked the gene, had been in front and hadn't triggered it. It was true that Rodney had pretty much figured it out the same way, but that was normal cognitive function for McKay. Sheppard decided he would have to revise his opinion of Lorne to include him in the Mental Elite.

So after that, they had beat a hasty retreat to discuss strategy. It had been Zelenka and Beckett who had come up with a way to actually _trigger _the traps: transgenic DNA. They had basically made up a tube of Beckett's ATA gene, put it on a long stick, and used it to trigger the traps. That had worked fine until the door and the spikes. After that they had to get Lorne back through the gate, and figure out a way to disarm the floor triggers. But still, it was a damned fine idea, and he couldn't wait to tell Rodney about it.

Speaking of Rodney…Sheppard forced himself to come up out of his drifting enough to open his eyes a crack. Beckett had left the lights on, much to everyone's relief, especially Rodney. The scientist had nearly freaked out earlier when Beckett had tried to draw his privacy curtain. Sheppard had had to explain, in an abbreviated fashion, what had happed to make the claustrophobia worse. Carson had seemed to understand, and had enclosed all four of them in a large curtained area. That way, there was some privacy, and the space was bigger.

Now, though, looking at Rodney, Sheppard wondered if it was big enough. Rodney was lying down, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. "You're awake," Sheppard commented, keeping his voice soft enough not to wake Ronon or Teyla.

Rodney rolled his head to face Sheppard. "So are you," he pointed out.

"Wasn't until a minute ago."

"Ah. I'm…I'm just thinking."

"You should be sleeping." Sheppard struggled to stand.

"What are you doing? You're getting up! You shouldn't be getting up! I'll call Carson!"

"Shhh!" Sheppard warned, managing to get to his feet. "You'll wake the others. I'm fine on my feet." To prove his point, he tried to take a step and nearly toppled over. "There, see?" he added weakly.

Rodney smiled at this. "Idiot." If Sheppard didn't know better, he would say the word was said with fondness.

Sheppard finally managed, leaning heavily on his IV pole, to make it over to Rodney's bed. He sat down heavily near Rodney's feet. Carson really would kill him if he found him out of bed, but right now he didn't care. He had things to take care of—things to care for—before he could rest.

"So how are you, really?" he asked at last.

Rodney sighed. "I'm lousy, how're you?"

"Well, it's been a helluva few days, hasn't it?" Sheppard commented. "We've been bruised, electrocuted, crushed, impaled…but that's just physical stuff. We'll heal. We always do."

Rodney narrowed his eyes. "Oh. _Oh. _ I get it now. You're thinking about how I freaked out repeatedly on you, aren't you? Well, I assure you, Colonel, it won't—"

Sheppard slapped Rodney's knee, shutting him up with a startled 'ow!' "No, idiot. I'm not asking because there was a major failing on your part, although you obviously feel there was. That can't have been pleasant for you."

Rodney looked at him, startled, then his sneer was back to hide any real emotions he might be having. "'Not pleasant?' Oh, you might say it was a just a little bit…oh, not fun!"

"Rodney. You know what I mean. I just can't think of a word strong enough to describe what you must have thought when the walls started closing in." He knew it was probably cruel to bring it up, but he didn't want Rodney to bottle this one away. It could ruin him for small spaces like, say, Puddlejumpers. And that was unacceptable.

He felt a violent shudder run through his friend. "Can we please not discuss this?" Rodney asked in a choked voice.

"I just…" Sheppard wasn't sure how to proceed, what to say. "I just wanted to let you know that I know what you're dealing with. I don't know how it feels, exactly, but I…" He trailed off. This wasn't working. Women made this stuff look so easy!

Rodney seemed to get it anyway, though. He relaxed. "Yeah. And I think you do have a phobia, Colonel, even if you don't see it."

Sheppard turned to him, taken off-guard. He had no idea what Rodney was talking about. "Huh?" he asked, stumped for anything else to say.

Rodney smiled. "Yes. You have no idea, do you? You have a paralyzing fear of losing people."

Sheppard swallowed convulsively, cut to the core. He closed his eyes, remembering Rodney with a temperature of 106. Remembering Teyla and Ronon crushed behind a rock. Remembering. He lost people, it was true. And he didn't want to lose his friends, or anyone else. He could feel himself start to sweat. God, was Rodney right? He had never thought of it as a phobia before, but it kind of fit. Huh.

"See?" Rodney said gently. "So you do know how I'm feeling."

Sheppard opened his eyes and managed a shaky smile. "So now what do we do?"

Rodney shrugged and yawned. "We take it one day at a time, I suppose."

"That's pretty philosophical," Sheppard commented.

"Also, pithy. I read it in a fortune cookie." Rodney's eyelids drooped. "Just…a stupid fortune cookie."

"But it fits," Sheppard said, struggling again to his feet. "You get some sleep."

"You too," Rodney mumbled, already drifting off.

Sheppard smiled and gave Rodney a pat on the shoulder, then left him to sleep. He had one more stop before he could sleep himself. He sighed and crossed the room. This was awkward. He hadn't known Major Lorne all that long. He liked the man, he just didn't know him well. He also never was sure how the man viewed him: a Major not too long ago, and suddenly promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Was there any resentment?

Sheppard bit the bullet and pushed aside the curtain to reveal a very tired-looking, but awake, Major Lorne. "Sir," Lorne said, seeing who it was.

"Lorne. How you doin'?"

"I'll be ok, sir. Just a leg wound."

" Lot of blood in that tunnel, Lorne."

"Bled like a stuck pig, sir." Lorne agreed, deadpan.

Sheppard tried not to turn green. "Hit an artery?"

"Yes sir."

"Lucky to be alive."

"Extremely lucky, sir."

"Ah…" Sheppard shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't good at this stuff. "I just wanted to say thanks. For…you know…for trying to get to us."

"Any time sir." Lorne frowned. "Only, not for a few weeks, ok, sir?"

Sheppard grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's a deal. Get some rest." He went back to his own bed, feeling unaccountably better. He was asleep within minutes.

oOo

A/N: There, that's it! Thanks for reading, and for all the nice reviews. I had a lot of fun writing this. Poor Lorne and Rodney. I can't seem to stop picking on those two :)


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